Spot diagnoses

An exam favourite spot diagnosis (granular cell tumour).

Spot diagnoses are (microscopic) diagnoses one can make on the spot. They are ideal for bell-ringer type exams.

There is a separate article for gross spot diagnoses.

If you are looking for questions for review/practice, take a look at the quizzes page for quick ones, and cases page for longer ones.

Diagnosis	Site	Notes
Pingueculum	Eye
Pterygium	Eye
Ameloblastoma	Head and neck pathology
Inverted papilloma	Head and neck pathology
Papilloma	Head and neck pathology
Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma	Head and neck pathology
Sinonasal papilloma	Head and neck pathology
Branchial cleft cyst	Head and neck pathology
Granular cell tumour	Head and neck pathology
Keloid	Head and neck pathology
Paraganglioma	Head and neck pathology
Amyloid	Head and neck pathology
Mucormycosis	Head and neck pathology
Fibrous dysplasia	Head and neck pathology
Rhabdomyoma	Head and neck pathology
Acinic cell carcinoma	Salivary gland
Adenoid cystic carcinoma	Salivary gland
Benign lymphoepithelial lesion	Salivary gland
Carcinoma ex pleomorphic adenoma	Salivary gland
Mucoepidermoid carcinoma	Salivary gland
Pleomorphic adenoma	Salivary gland
Warthin tumour	Salivary gland
De-Quervain's thyroiditis	Thyroid gland
Follicular adenoma	Thyroid gland
Follicular carcinoma	Thyroid gland
Granulomatous thyroiditis	Thyroid gland
Hashimoto thyroiditis	Thyroid gland
Hurthle cell adenoma	Thyroid gland
Medullary thyroid carcinoma	Thyroid gland
Nodular hyperplasia	Thyroid gland
Papillary thyroid carcinoma	Thyroid gland
Papillary thyroid carcinoma follicular variant	Thyroid gland
Papillary thyroid carcinoma tall cell variant	Thyroid gland
Papillary thyroid carcinoma columnar cell variant	Thyroid gland
Papillary thyroid carcinoma cribriform-morular variant	Thyroid gland
Parathyroid adenoma	Parathyroid gland
Thymoma	Thymus
Adrenal adenoma	Adrenal gland
Adrenal cortical carcinoma	Adrenal gland
Adrenal gland with cytomegaly	Adrenal gland
Pheochromocytoma	Adrenal gland
Myelolipoma	Adrenal gland
Adenoid cystic carcinoma	Pulmonary pathology
Thymic carcinoma	Pulmonary pathology
Small cell carcinoma	Pulmonary pathology
Nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma	Pulmonary pathology
Plasma cell granuloma	Pulmonary pathology	Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumour
Eosinophilic granuloma of the lung	Pulmonary pathology
Silicone granuloma	Pulmonary pathology
Sarcoidosis	Pulmonary pathology
Wegener granulomatosis	Pulmonary pathology
Ferruginous body	Pulmonary pathology
Adenocarcinoma of the lung	Pulmonary pathology
Diffuse alveolar damage	Pulmonary pathology	Histology of ARDS
Aspergillosis	Pulmonary pathology
Pneumocystis pneumonia	Pulmonary pathology
Aspiration pneumonia	Pulmonary pathology
Atypical lung carcinoid tumour	Pulmonary pathology
Organizing pneumonia	Pulmonary pathology
Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma	Pulmonary pathology
Small cell carcinoma	Pulmonary pathology
Carcinoid lung tumour	Pulmonary pathology
Carcinoid tumourlet	Pulmonary pathology	Lung tumourlet
Centrilobular emphysema	Pulmonary pathology
CMV pneumonia	Pulmonary pathology
Coal worker lung	Pulmonary pathology
CPAM	Pulmonary pathology
Pulmonary hamartoma	Pulmonary pathology
Hyaline membrane disease	Pulmonary pathology	Respiratory distress syndrome
Lobar pneumonia	Pulmonary pathology
Mesothelioma	Pulmonary pathology
Solitary fibrous tumour	Pulmonary pathology
Acute pyelonephritis	Medical renal disease
Chronic pyelonephritis	Medical renal disease
Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis	Medical renal disease
Crescentic glomerulonephritis	Medical renal disease
Diabetic nephropathy	Medical renal disease
Hypertensive kidney	Medical renal disease
Membranous glomerulonephritis	Medical renal disease
Myeloma of kidney	Renal tumours
Angiomyolipoma	Renal tumours
Chromophobe renal cell carcinoma	Renal tumours
Mesonephric adenoma	Renal tumours
Renal oncocytoma	Renal tumours
Papillary renal cell carcinoma	Renal tumours
Sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma	Renal tumours
Urothelial carcinoma	Renal tumours
Clear cell renal cell carcinoma	Renal tumours
Basal cell hyperplasia of the prostate	Prostate gland
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)	Prostate gland
Urethral caruncle	Urothelium
Cystitis cystica et glandularis	Urothelium
Granulomatous orchitis	Testis
Granulomatous prostatitis	Prostate gland
Prostatic infarction	Prostate gland
Inverted papilloma of the bladder	Urinary bladder
Malakoplakia	Urinary bladder
Mixed germ cell tumour	Testis
Prostatic adenocarcinoma	Prostate gland
Rhabdomyosarcoma of the urinary bladder	Urinary bladder
Urinary bladder squamous cell carcinoma	Urinary bladder
Schistosomiasis	Urinary bladder
Seminoma	Testis
Testicular atrophy	Testis
Sperm granuloma	Testis
Spermatocytic tumour	Testis
Teratoma of testis	Testis
Urothelial carcinoma in situ	Urothelium
Vasitis nodosa	Vas deferens
Adenomatoid tumour	Genitourinary pathology
Lipoma of the spermatic cord	Genitourinary pathology	Lipoma
Balanitis xerotica obliterans	Genitourinary pathology	Lichen sclerosus
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC)	Dermatopathology
Acute eczematous dermatitis	Dermatopathology
Basal cell carcinoma sclerosing variant	Dermatopathology
Trichofolliculoma	Dermatopathology
Blue nevus	Dermatopathology
Bowen disease	Dermatopathology	SCC in situ
Verruca vulgaris	Dermatopathology	Verruca plana similar
Chondroid syringoma	Dermatopathology
Compound nevus	Dermatopathology
Congenital nevus	Dermatopathology
Dysplastic nevus	Dermatopathology
Spitz nevus	Dermatopathology
Dermal cylindroma	Dermatopathology
Nodular hidradenoma	Dermatopathology
Dermatitis herpetiformis	Dermatopathology
Dermatofibroma	Dermatopathology
Epidermal inclusion cyst	Dermatopathology
Extramammary Paget disease	Dermatopathology
Metastatic signet ring cell carcinoma	Dermatopathology
Glomus tumour	Dermatopathology
Granuloma annulare	Dermatopathology
Hemangioma	Dermatopathology
Invasive squamous cell carcinoma	Dermatopathology
Verrucous carcinoma	Dermatopathology
Kaposi sarcoma	Dermatopathology
Lentigo maligna	Dermatopathology
Lichen planus	Dermatopathology
Lichen sclerosus	Dermatopathology
Mastocytosis	Dermatopathology
Melanoma	Dermatopathology
Merkel cell carcinoma	Dermatopathology
Mycosis fungoides	Dermatopathology
Neurofibroma	Dermatopathology
Neurothekeoma	Dermatopathology
Nevus sebaceous	Dermatopathology
Pemphigoid	Dermatopathology
Pemphigus foliaceus	Dermatopathology
Pigmented spindle cell nevus of Reed	Dermatopathology
Pilar cyst	Dermatopathology
Pilomatricoma	Dermatopathology
Psoriasis	Dermatopathology
Leukocytoclastic vasculitis	Dermatopathology
Acute appendicitis	Appendix
Adenocarcinoma in a villous adenoma	Colon
Adenocarcinoma of the GE junction	Esophagus/Stomach
Colorectal adenocarcinoma	Colon
Amebiasis	Colon
Barrett esophagus with low grade dysplasia	Esophagus
Carcinoid tumour	Esophagus
Celiac disease	Duodenum
Chronic active gastritis with Helicobacter pylori	Stomach
Colitis cystica profunda	Colon
Collagenous colitis	Colon
Cryptosporidium	Colon
Diverticulitis	Colon
Enterobius vermicularis appendix	Appendix
Fundic gland polyp	Stomach
Gastric adenocarcinoma	Stomach
Gastric xanthoma	Stomach
Giardiasis	Duodenum
Gastrointestinal stromal tumour	Gastrointestinal pathology
Hamartomatous polyp	Gastrointestinal pathology
Herpes esophagitis	Esophagus
Hyperplastic polyp	Gastrointestinal pathology
Inflammatory pseudopolyp	Gastrointestinal pathology
Intestinal metaplasia with dysplasia	Gastrointestinal pathology
Intestinal spirochetosis	Gastrointestinal pathology
Ischemic colitis	Gastrointestinal pathology
Juvenile polyp	Gastrointestinal pathology
Peutz-Jeghers polyp	Gastrointestinal pathology	Peutz-Jeghers syndrome
Leiomyoma of colon	Colon
Leiomyoma of esophagus	Esophagus
Meckel diverticulum	Colon
Pseudomelanosis coli	Colon
Necrotizing enteritis	Colon
Pneumatosis intestinalis	Colon
Pseudomembranous colitis	Colon
Reactive gastropathy	Stomach
Sessile serrated adenoma	Gastrointestinal pathology
Traditional serrated adenoma	Gastrointestinal pathology
Signet ring cell carcinoma	Gastrointestinal pathology
Small bowel atresia	Small bowel
Small bowel MAI	Small bowel
Small cell carcinoma	Gastrointestinal pathology
Solitary rectal ulcer	Rectum
Strongyloides - appendix	Appendix
Acute appendicitis with periappendicitis	Appendix
Tubulovillous adenoma	Gastrointestinal pathology
Ulcerative colitis	Colon
Crohn's disease	Gastrointestinal pathology
Whipple disease	Duodenum
Small bowel neuroendocrine carcinoma	Small bowel
Inflammatory fibroid polyp	Gastrointestinal pathology
Adenomyoma of the gallbladder	Gallbladder
Cholangiocarcinoma	Gallbladder
Gallbladder adenocarcinoma	Gallbladder
Cholesterolosis	Gallbladder
Chronic cholecystitis	Gallbladder
Alcoholic steatohepatitis	Liver pathology
Bile duct atresia	Liver pathology
Intrahepatic biliary atresia	Liver pathology
Cholestatic hepatitis	Liver pathology
Primary biliary cirrhosis	Liver pathology
Cirrhosis	Liver pathology
Micronodular cirrhosis with fatty changes	Liver pathology
Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma	Liver pathology
Hepatocellular carcinoma	Liver pathology
Hepatic adenoma	Liver pathology
Metastatic adenocarcinoma	Liver pathology	usu. colorectal carcinoma, DDx: pseudoglandular HCC, cholangiocarcinoma
Focal nodular hyperplasia	Liver pathology
Fulminant hepatic necrosis	Liver pathology
Hemochromatosis	Liver pathology
Hepatoblastoma	Liver pathology
Hydatid cyst of liver	Liver pathology
Liver peliosis	Liver pathology
Viral hepatitis	Liver pathology
Giant cell hepatitis	Liver pathology
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency	Liver pathology
Amyloidosis of the liver	Liver pathology	Amyloidosis
Hemangioma of the liver	Liver pathology
Hemangioendothelioma of the liver	Liver pathology	Hemangioendothelioma
Islet cell tumour	Pancreas
Mucinous cystadenoma of the pancreas	Pancreas
Serous cystadenoma	Pancreas
Serous microcystic adenoma of the pancreas	Pancreas	Von Hippel-Lindau disease
Invasive ductal carcinoma of the pancreas	Pancreas
Solid pseudopapillary tumour	Pancreas
Ganglioneuroblastoma	Pediatric pathology
Ganglioneuroma	Pediatric pathology
Neuroblastoma – adrenal	Pediatric pathology
Wilms tumour	Pediatric pathology
Hepatoblastoma	Pediatric pathology
Medulloblastoma	Pediatric pathology
Meconium ileus	Pediatric pathology
Necrotizing enteritis	Pediatric pathology
Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma	Pediatric pathology
Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma	Pediatric pathology
Sarcoma botryoides	Pediatric pathology
Infantile capillary hemangioma	Pediatric pathology
Choriocarcinoma	Gynecologic pathology
Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL)	Gynecologic pathology
Adenocarcinoma in situ of the cervix (AIS)	Gynecologic pathology
Arias-Stella reaction	Gynecologic pathology
Atypical polypoid adenomyoma	Gynecologic pathology
Ovarian serous borderline tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Brenner tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Condyloma acuminatum	Gynecologic pathology
Carcinoma in situ of the cervix	Gynecologic pathology
Clear cell carcinoma of the cervix	Gynecologic pathology
Complete hydatidiform mole	Gynecologic pathology
Partial hydatidiform mole	Gynecologic pathology
Condyloma of the cervix	Gynecologic pathology
Dysgerminoma	Gynecologic pathology
Decidualized endometrium and chorionic villi	Gynecologic pathology
Endometrioid endometrial adenocarcinoma	Gynecologic pathology
Endometrial clear cell carcinoma	Gynecologic pathology
Endometriosis	Gynecologic pathology
Cystic endosalpingiosis	Gynecologic pathology
Giant cell endometritis	Gynecologic pathology
Granulosa cell tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Immature teratoma	Gynecologic pathology
Strumal carcinoid	Gynecologic pathology
Uterine leiomyoma	Gynecologic pathology
Uterine leiomyosarcoma	Gynecologic pathology
Low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma	Gynecologic pathology
Menstrual endometrium	Gynecologic pathology
Carcinosarcoma of the uterus	Gynecologic pathology
Adenomatoid tumour of the uterus	Gynecologic pathology
Mucinous cystadenoma of the ovary	Gynecologic pathology
Mucinous-seromucinous low malignant potential tumour of the ovary	Gynecologic pathology
Ovarian fibroma	Gynecologic pathology
Peritoneal inclusion cyst	Gynecologic pathology
Placental site trophoblastic tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Proliferative type endometrium	Gynecologic pathology
Ruptured tubal pregnancy	Gynecologic pathology
Salpingitis isthmica nodosa	Gynecologic pathology
Vulvar squamous cell carcinoma	Gynecologic pathology
Secretory endometrium	Gynecologic pathology
Serous carcinoma of the endometrium	Gynecologic pathology
Serous cystadenoma of the ovary	Gynecologic pathology
Serous LMP tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Sertoli cell tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Sertoli-Leydig cell tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Simple hyperplasia of the endometrium	Gynecologic pathology
Squamous cell carcinoma with adenocarcinoma in situ of the cervix	Gynecologic pathology
Suppurative cervitis with decidualization	Gynecologic pathology
High-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL)	Gynecologic pathology
Suppurative salpingitis	Gynecologic pathology
Ovarian teratoma	Gynecologic pathology
Tubal pregnancy	Gynecologic pathology
Yolk sac tumour	Gynecologic pathology
Extramammary Paget disease	Gynecologic pathology
Atypical ductal hyperplasia	Breast
Breast hyperplasia and papillomatosis	Breast
Colloid carcinoma of the breast	Breast
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)	Breast
Micropapillary ductal carcinoma in situ	Breast
Ductal carcinoma with cancerization of lobules	Breast
Fibroadenoma	Breast
Tubular adenoma of the breast	Breast
Fibrocystic changes	Breast
Florid epithelial hyperplasia	Breast
Hemangioma of the breast	Breast
Lobular carcinoma in situ	Breast
Invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast	Breast
Invasive lobular carcinoma	Breast
Lactating adenoma	Breast
Medullary carcinoma of the breast	Breast
Mucinous carcinoma of the breast	Breast
Multiple papillomas	Breast
Paget disease of the nipple	Breast
Papillary carcinoma of the breast	Breast
Phyllodes tumour	Breast
Sclerosing adenosis	Breast
Fat necrosis of the breast	Breast
Solitary fibrous tumour	Soft tissue lesions
Nodular fasciitis	Soft tissue lesions
Spindle cell lipoma	Soft tissue lesions	may be similar to Pleomorphic lipoma
Synovial sarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Angiofibroma	Soft tissue lesions
Angiolipoma	Soft tissue lesions
Schwannoma	Soft tissue lesions
Dermatofibroma	Soft tissue lesions
Elastofibroma	Soft tissue lesions
Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans	Soft tissue lesions
Hemangiopericytoma	Soft tissue lesions
Hemangioendothelioma of the liver	Soft tissue lesions
Epithelioid hemangioendothelioma	Soft tissue lesions
Intramuscular hemangioma	Soft tissue lesions
Lymphangioma	Soft tissue lesions
Glomus tumour	Soft tissue lesions
Epithelioid sarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Botryoid rhabdomyosarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Alveolar soft part sarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Angiosarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Dedifferentiated liposarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Liposarcoma	Soft tissue lesions
Chordoma	Soft tissue lesions
Digital mucous cyst	Soft tissue lesions
Leiomyoblastoma of stomach	Soft tissue lesions
Desmoid tumour	Soft tissue lesions
Palmar fibromatosis	Soft tissue lesions
Lipoma of the spermatic cord	Soft tissue lesions
Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumour	Soft tissue lesions
Eosinophilic granuloma of bone	Bone
Plasmacytoma	Bone
Fibrous dysplasia	Bone
Giant cell tumour of bone	Bone
Giant cell tumour of tendon sheath	Bone	usu. hand
Diffuse tenosynovial giant-cell tumour	Bone	pigmented villonodular synovitis
Osteosarcoma	Bone
Osteoid osteoma	Bone
Osteoblastoma	Bone
Chondrosarcoma	Bone
Chordoma	Bone
Rheumatoid nodule	Bone
Calcific tendonitis	Bone
Gout	Bone
Pseudogout	Bone
Muscular dystrophy	Bone
Myositis ossificans	Bone
Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia	Hematopathology
Burkitt lymphoma	Hematopathology
Castleman disease	Hematopathology
Diffuse large B cell lymphoma	Hematopathology
Follicular lymphoma	Hematopathology
Hodgkin lymphoma mixed cellularity type	Hematopathology
Hodgkin lymphoma nodular sclerosis type	Hematopathology
Metastatic small cell carcinoma to the lymph node	Hematopathology
Multiple myeloma	Hematopathology
Histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis (Kikuchi disease)	Hematopathology
Plasmacytoma	Hematopathology
Rosai-Dorfman disease	Hematopathology
Extramedullary hematopoiesis (spleen)	Hematopathology
Gaucher disease (spleen)	Hematopathology
Hairy cell leukemia	Hematopathology
Littoral cell angioma	Hematopathology
Myeloid metaplasia of the spleen	Hematopathology
Myelolipoma of the adrenal	Hematopathology
MALToma	Hematopathology
Myeloid sarcoma	Hematopathology
Astrocytoma	Neuropathology
Diffuse astrocytoma	Neuropathology
Arteriovenous malformation	Neuropathology
Ependymoma	Neuropathology
Glioblastoma	Neuropathology
Medulloblastoma	Neuropathology
Meningioma	Neuropathology
Metastatic carcinoma	Neuropathology
Oligodendroglioma	Neuropathology
Schwannoma	Neuropathology
Subependymoma	Neuropathology
Toxoplasmosis	Neuropathology
Viral encephalitis	Neuropathology
Metastatic melanoma	Neuropathology
Acute myocardial infarction	Cardiovascular pathology
Atrial myxoma	Cardiovascular pathology
Cardiac amyloidosis	Cardiovascular pathology
Fibrinous pericarditis	Cardiovascular pathology
Arteriovenous malformation	Cardiovascular pathology
Granulomatous myocarditis	Cardiovascular pathology
Giant cell arteritis	Cardiovascular pathology
Paraganglioma	Miscellaneous
Inflammatory pseudotumour	Miscellaneous
Adenomatoid tumour of the uterus	Miscellaneous
Actinomycetes	Miscellaneous
Amyloidosis of the liver	Miscellaneous
Chorangioma	Miscellaneous
Pseudogout	Miscellaneous

See also

• Gross pathology spot diagnoses.
• Cases.