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Synovitis Pathology

Russell Bodies / Germinal Centers

Feature:

Spherical (usually) globules of glassy pink-to-red material within plasma cells or free in the interstitial tissue

Feature:

A well-defined collection of large lymphoid cells (germinal center cells), within a localized aggregate of small lymphoid cells that are associated with a small blood vessel that can be seen to have tall endothelial cells

Magnification: Scan at 5x and confirm at 20x

Grading (Russell Bodies):

  • 0: None (80%)
  • 1: Present (20%)

Grading (Germinal Centers):

  • 0: None (97%)
  • 1: Present (3%)

Grade (RB) 1 | Grade (GC 1)

Grade 1 (present), Example 1: Russell bodies may be seen as multiple red beads within individual plasma cells (seen in the background) and free in the tissue.
Grade 1: (present), Example 2: Russell bodies may be seen as red irregularly shaped structures or beads free in the tissue.
Grade 1 (present), Example 1: The pale zone of cells in the center represents a germinal that is nearly completely surrounded by small lymphocytes.
Grade 1 (present), Example 2: The mixture of small and large lymphoid cells typical of a germinal center show irregular sizes and shapes with and without nucleoli are visible with small particles of tangible bodies.

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