Nodal lymphomas are less common in cats than in dogs and, consequently, no specific studies have been published. Cytology is the first step in the diagnosis of nodal lymphoma but is highly subjective. Morphological features have been introduced for the cytological classification of canine lymphomas but not for cats. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate interobserver agreement on various cytological features of feline nodal lymphomas and to investigate the accuracy in predicting B or T immunophenotypes. Four veterinary cytologists examined 25 feline nodal and mediastinal lymphoma cytological samples by adapting the criteria used for the evaluation of canine lymphomas and setting histopathology and immunohistochemistry as the gold standard. High interobserver variability was found in the evaluation of most features except for the presence or absence of cytoplasmic vacuoles, which were more common in B-cell lymphomas. Cytology training centre was the major factor influencing the extent of agreement among evaluators. Diagnostic accuracy in predicting lymphoma immunophenotype varied from 35% to 75% and did not appear to be correlated with the experience of the evaluators. We conclude that cytological criteria, commonly used to describe canine lymphomas, are not adaptable to the counterpart feline neoplasms. Cytology-based immunophenotyping of feline lymphomas from different laboratories, and different cytologists within the same laboratory, differ substantially and should not be considered reliable. Specific cytological criteria are needed to describe feline lymphoma.

淋巴结淋巴瘤在猫中比在狗中少见，因此尚未发表具体研究。细胞学是淋巴结淋巴瘤诊断的第一步，但具有很强的主观性。已为犬淋巴瘤的细胞学分类引入了形态学特征，但尚未为猫引入形态学特征。因此，本研究的目的是评估观察者间对猫淋巴结淋巴瘤各种细胞学特征的一致性，并研究预测 B 或 T 免疫表型的准确性。四名兽医细胞学家通过调整用于评估犬淋巴瘤的标准并将组织病理学和免疫组织化学设置为金标准，检查了 25 份猫淋巴结和纵隔淋巴瘤细胞学样本。除了细胞质空泡的存在或不存在外，在大多数特征的评估中发现了高观察者间变异性，这在 B 细胞淋巴瘤中更为常见。细胞学培训中心是影响评价者一致程度的主要因素。预测淋巴瘤免疫表型的诊断准确性从 35% 到 75% 不等，并且似乎与评估者的经验无关。我们得出结论，通常用于描述犬淋巴瘤的细胞学标准不适用于对应的猫肿瘤。来自不同实验室和同一实验室内不同细胞学家的猫淋巴瘤基于细胞学的免疫表型存在很大差异，不应被认为是可靠的。描述猫淋巴瘤需要特定的细胞学标准。