Psammoma is a medical term used to describe a type of calcification or tumor formation that resembles grains of sand. The word itself is derived from the Greek words "psammo", meaning sand, and "oma", referring to a tumor or abnormal growth.
In the medical field, psammoma most commonly refers to psammoma bodies, which are small, round, and concentrically layered calcified structures found within certain types of tumors. These tumors can occur in various organs of the body, including the thyroid gland, ovaries, kidneys, and brain.
Psammoma bodies are typically identified through microscopic examination of tissue samples from the affected organ. Under a microscope, they appear as clusters of small, mineralized spheres with distinct concentric layers resembling layers of an onion or grains of sand, hence the name. These bodies are usually composed of calcium salts, predominantly calcium carbonate.
The presence of psammoma bodies is often associated with certain types of tumors, including papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, papillary adenocarcinoma of the ovary, and some types of meningiomas in the brain. Their identification can be helpful in diagnosing and classifying these tumors.
While the presence of psammoma bodies is not always indicative of malignancy, their detection can aid in the determination of tumor behavior, prognosis, and treatment options. Therefore, the recognition of psammoma bodies is of significant importance in the field of pathology and clinical medicine.
