A pathologist examines tissue surrounding a retained surgical suture and finds multinucleated giant cells in which the nuclei are scattered randomly throughout the abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm rather than arranged in a peripheral horseshoe pattern. This morphology identifies the giant cell type as:

• A Foreign body giant cell ✓
• B Langhans giant cell
• C Touton giant cell
• D Warthin-Finkeldey giant cell

Explanation

Foreign body giant cells, formed when macrophages fuse around inert material they cannot phagocytose, have nuclei dispersed haphazardly through the cytoplasm. Langhans giant cells show nuclei arrayed in a horseshoe at the periphery and characterize tuberculosis and other immune granulomas, making B the strongest distractor here. Touton giant cells have a ring of nuclei around lipid-rich cytoplasm in xanthomas, and Warthin-Finkeldey cells are syncytia seen in measles.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.