decoy cell


Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Legal, Financial, Encyclopedia.

de·coy cell

benign exfoliated epithelial cell with pyknotic nucleus seen in urinary infections; may be mistaken for malignant cell.
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

decoy cell

A small, atypical exfoliated urothelial cell that mimics carcinoma-in-situ of the bladder, which is often caused by human polyoma virus. Decoy cells have single, large, homogenous, basophilic inclusions occupying most of an enlarged nuclear area; other cytologic findings of polyomavirus infection include “empty cells” (post-inclusion stage) and “comet cells”.
Segen's Medical Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

de·coy cell

(dē'koy sel)
Benign exfoliated epithelial cell with pyknotic nucleus seen in urinary infections; may be mistaken for a malignant cell.
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

decoy cell

A cell found in the urine with inclusion bodies in its nucleus. It indicates infection with BK virus in renal transplant recipients.
See also: cell
Medical Dictionary, © 2009 Farlex and Partners
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
Urine Samples.--The urine samples were concentrated by means of centrifugation at 700g for 10 minutes, and 5 mL of the urine pellets were then cytocentrifuged at 250g for 10 minutes onto 2 slides, both of which were fixed in 95% ethanol, stained with Papanicolaou stain, and cytologically examined to identify the presence of decoy cells, indicating active PV replication.
(21) Noninvasive methods, such as the cytologic analysis of urine to search for decoy cells or qualitative and quantitative PCR on urine and blood, are useful in selecting patients with renal transplants who are at risk of developing PVAN and in monitoring treatment efficacy, (22) but not in formulating a definite diagnosis.
However, when we compared BKV TCR sequence variations with the presence and strength of viruria (evaluated as the number of decoy cells) in a recent study, (19) we did not find any relationship because similar sequence variations were detected with both the presence and absence of decoy cells.
Detection, distribution, and pathologic significance of BK virus strains isolated from patients with kidney transplants, with and without polyomavirus-associated nephropathy

Medical browser ?
Full browser ?