woman with pyrexia of unknown origin and a 75- year-old man with cardiac tamponade, in whom LE cells were detected in bone marrow aspiration and pericardial fluid samples, respectively; these cases emphasize the importance of a meticulous morpho- logical examination of smears irrespective of gender and age of the patient, even in unusual situa- tions. 7,8 To conclude, although well documented, LE cells in pericardial effusions are extremely rare. Both cli- nicians and cytopathologists should have a high index of suspicion for SLE in any young woman pre- senting with an unexplained serous effusion. When numerous, LE cells are easily detectable in body fluid samples, which is of paramount importance in the early management of patients with SLE. Hence, LE cell detection in body fluids is not merely of his- torical interest, but has an enormous clinical signifi- cance. S. Rao, N. Siddaraju, P. Mishra, E. Muthalagan, P. C. Toi and N. G. Rajesh Department of Pathology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, India References 1. Park JY, Malik A, Dumoff KL, Gupta PK. Case report and review of lupus erythematosus cells in cytology flu- ids. Diagn Cytopathol 2007;35:806–9. 2. Naylor B. Pleural, peritoneal, and pericardial fluids. In: Comprehensive Cytopathology, 3rd edn. Bibbo M, Wilbur DC (eds). Philadelphia: Saunders, Elsevier; 2008: pp. 515–77. 3. Hargraves MM, Richmond H, Morton R. Presentation of two bone marrow elements; the ‘tart’ cell and ‘LE’ cell. Proc Staff Meet Mayo Clin 1948;23:25–8. 4. Wolkove N, Frank H. Lupus pericarditis. CMA J 1974;111:1331–3. 5. Puszczewicz M, Bialkowska-Puszczewicz G. LE cells in synovial fluid: prevalence and diagnostic usefulness in rheumatic diseases. Ann Acad Med Stetin 2010;56(Suppl 1):105–8. 6. Seaman AJ, Christerson JW. Demonstration of L.E. cells in pericardial fluid. Report of a case. JAMA 1952;149:145–7. 7. Fazio J, Friedman HD, Swerdlow J, Michiel RR. Diagno- sis of systemic lupus erythematosus in an elderly male by pericardial fluid cytology: a case report. Diagn Cytopa- thol 1998;18:346–8. 8. Pujani M, Kushwaha S, Sethi N, Beniwal A, Shukla S. Lupus erythematosus cells in bone marrow: the only clue to a previously unsuspected diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus. Acta Cytol 2013;57:652–4. Fine needle aspiration cytology of inflammatory pseudotumour of the spleen DOI:10.1111/cyt.12147 Dear Editor, Splenic tumours are relatively rare and difficult to diagnose before surgery. Inflammatory pseudotumour (IPT) is a rare space-occupying lesion of unknown aetiology, characterized by fibroblastic proliferation with varying degrees of inflammatory cell infiltration. 1 Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a safe and cost-effective technique for making a definite pathological diagnosis of splenic lesions. 2 In our department, splenic FNAC is not usual, but, in the few cases that require pre-opera- tive diagnosis, we perform it under ultrasound guid- ance. In this report, we describe the FNAC findings of splenic IPT. A 40-year-old woman presented with constant left upper quadrant abdominal pain. She had no history of fever or significant weight loss. Physical examina- tion revealed splenomegaly. Blood count results and biochemical analysis were normal. Magnetic reso- nance imaging revealed a 60 9 50-mm 2 , homo- geneous, well-defined, round mass in the spleen. The radiologist made a diagnosis of lymphoma. Ultrasound-guided FNAC was performed using a 22-gauge needle and smears were stained with Papa- nicolaou and Wright–Giemsa methods. FNAC of the mass showed hypercellular smears composed of iso- lated clusters of spindle cells admixed with some lymphocytes, plasma cells, eosinophils and red blood cells. The spindle cells appeared bland with no aty- pia (Figure 1a,b). The possibility of a benign spindle cell tumour was proposed. The patient underwent splenectomy. Cut section of the spleen showed a well-defined, white, firm mass measuring 6 9 5 9 5 cm 3 with areas of necrosis (Figure 2a). Microscopically, the mass showed sheets of spindle cells admixed with many inflammatory cells, including lymphocytes, neutrophils, plasma cells, eosinophils and histiocytes (Figure 2b). The spindle Correspondence: M. H. Anbardar, Department of Pathology, Shiraz Medical School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, PO Box 71345-1864, Shiraz, Iran Tel./Fax: +98-711-2301784; E-mail: anbardarm@sums.ac.ir © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Cytopathology 2015, 26, 197–204 Correspondence 202