The yellow-tan tumor is enclosed within an attenuated yellowish cortex and demonstrates areas of hemorrhage. The residual adrenal is seen below.
Pheochromocytoma
Adrenal pheochromocytoma. The tumor shown in A has a markedly variegated appearance. One half of the specimen & the lower portion of the the other half were fixed in dichromate fixative and have acquired the typical dark brown color indicative of a positive chromaffin reaction.
Pheochromocytoma
The section of tumor at the bottom has been placed into a dichromate fixative which turns the tissue brown as the catecholamines are oxidized. Compare to the section of pink to yellow tumor at the top which has not been placed in dichromate fixative*.
Pheochromocytoma Chromaffin reaction
The section demonstrates characteristic nesting of cells ("Zellballen") with abundant pinkish cytoplasm. It is not uncommon to find bizarre cells even in pheochromocytomas that are biologically benign, and this criterion by itself should not be used to diagnose malignancy.
Pheochromocytoma
The tumor is composed of large cells that are pink to mauve and arranged in nests with capillaries in between*.
Pheochromocytoma Adrenal gland
The tumor shows the typical location above the upper pole of the kidney, which is uninvolved.
Neuroblastoma adrenal
The tumor exhibits a variegated appearance resulting from hemorrhage and necrosis.
Neuroblastoma showing a variegated appearance with extensive areas of necrosis. The tumor shown is almost entirely necrotic and hemorrhagic.
A: the tumor is composed of small cells embedded in a finely fibrillar matrix. A Homer-Wright pseudo-rosette is seen (arrow) . B: Ganglioneuromas, arising from spontaneous or therapy-induced maturation of neuroblastomas, are characterized by clusters of large cells with vesicular nuclei and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm (arrow), representing neoplastic ganglion cells. Spindle-shaped Schwann cells are present in the background stroma.
Neuroblastoma & ganglioneuroma