Eye
Conjunctiva
Epithelial tumors
Conjunctival oncocytoma
Author: Deepali Jain, M.D.
Last author update: 1 April 2013
Last staff update: 4 April 2024
Copyright: 2004-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Oncocytoma conjunctiva
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Case reports | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Microscopic (histologic) images | Positive stains | Negative stains | Electron microscopy description | Molecular / cytogenetics descriptionCite this page: Jain D. Conjunctival oncocytoma. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/eyeoncocytomaconjunc.html. Accessed December 21st, 2024.
Definition / general
- Usually caruncle (Arch Ophthalmol 1977;95:474, Ophthal Plast Reconstr Surg 2012;28:14)
- Often elderly (mean age 73), more common in women
- Proposed origin from lacrimal and accessory lacrimal glands based on cytokeratin profile (Acta Ophthalmol 2011;89:263)
Case reports
- 51 year old woman with tumor of caruncle (Int Ophthalmol 2004;25:321)
- 60 year old woman with tumor of caruncle (Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd 2005;222:733)
- 72 year old woman with tumor of bulbar conjunctiva (Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd 1996;209:176)
- 75 year old woman with tumor of caruncle (Indian J Ophthalmol 2002;50:60)
Gross description
- Red-orange or yellow-tan mass
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Solid nests and cords of polyhedral cells with abundant, finely granular acidophilic cytoplasm and round / oval paracentral nuclei, usually with one prominent nucleolus
- May have microcystic areas with occasional goblet cells (Am J Dermatopathol 2007;29:279), may have malignant histology and behavior
Microscopic (histologic) images
AFIP images
Well circumscribed lesion
Tall columnar acidophilic cells lining glandular spaces
Subepithelial glandular tumor
Glandular spaces are lined by oncocytes and goblet cells
Images hosted on other servers:
Adnexal lacrimal glands
Caruncle tumor
Cystic areas contain eosinophilic secretions
Light and dark cells with acinar formation on left side
Well circumscribed lesion
Large polyhedral cells: abundant
eosinophilic granular cytoplasm
and small nuclei with
single prominent nucleoli
Negative stains
Electron microscopy description
- Large numbers of mitochondria (Br J Ophthalmol 1980;64:935)
Molecular / cytogenetics description
- Mitochondrial DNA mutations (Arch Ophthalmol 2011;129:664)
