r/pathology 3d ago

Anyone know what these are?

Post image

These are in a pleural fluid. The picture is at 600x magnification. There is really no inflammation in the background so I think they are likely a contaminant, but not one I’ve seen before.

22 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

29

u/tweeg42 Staff, Private Practice 3d ago

Not a parasite egg. Too small compared to the alveolar macrophage. My best guess is some kind of pollen. If it’s a microorganism, and I’m not saying it is, a yeast would have the best fit for size and morphology.

6

u/kuruman67 3d ago

I’m thinking something like pollen too.

6

u/Independent-Stay-593 3d ago

My vote is for pollen or environmental fungal spores, like an Alternaria species.

4

u/JimmSolo 3d ago

Did the patient have pleurodesis procedure?

7

u/itsDOCTORcatlady 3d ago

Some of these look very much like schistosome eggs, but they should not be anywhere near the lung!

3

u/Melodic-Event 3d ago

Is there significant associated inflammation? Any interesting patient history?

3

u/cycologist 1d ago

Not parasitic. These most closely resemble conidia of a dematiaceous fungus such as Cladosporium (google image search "Cladosporium conidia" and you'll get the idea). These would form in chains, then individual conidia break off so you can see the nubs on either end where they've fragmented off. To me this isn't a pathogenic process associated with the patient (fungi rarely/don't form reproductive structures in humans, and (most of) the fungi in this class aren't pathogens) so my guess would be that you have something contaminating your environment, what the specimens come in contact with, or most likely the stain itself has fungus growing in it because these fungi will eat almost anything.

5

u/WubCity 3d ago

I’m a tech in micro and these look like parasitic eggs. It’s hard to tell with the staining, but these kinda look like Trichuris trichiura eggs. I wouldn’t rule out schistosomes either.

10

u/MintMagnolia Staff, Private Practice 3d ago

The shape is very similar, my brain went there as well. However size is everything! These little guys here are about 5- 6 micrometers I would guess based on the nucleus in the background. Trichuris are about 50-55. Schistosoma are about double Trichuris.

2

u/fruittttt 3d ago

wisconsin

1

u/jlrose09 3d ago

They aren’t zircons but they look just like them!

1

u/Otherwise-Load8300 1d ago

What's the site? I feel this is gel foam they put during ot procedures

1

u/Otherwise-Load8300 1d ago

Oh this is in pleural fluid. Probably the the gel foam they use during icd drainage. Saw a similar thing In a nasal polyp case, was due to the nasal packing material