A brief about "Ghost cells"

What the heck are Ghost cells?

Let’s answer these 3 questions with regards to Ghost cells.

1. What are ghost cells?

2. How are they formed?

3. In which lesions can they be seen?

Can you answer them? If not read the answers below!

Answers

1. Ghost cells are eosinophilic epithelial cells that lack nuclei or cellular organelles. In fact these cells may or may not retain their cellular outline, become enlarged or ballooned, fuse with each other and form amorphous sheets of eosinophilic material.

2. No one still knows the nature of these cells. While there is a hypothesis that states ghost cells may be a result of abnormal keratinization, there are also theories which propose that these cells may be a phenomenon of coagulative necrosis or abnormal accumulation of enamel proteins. These cells have an affinity for calcification.

3. Ghost cells can be seen in lesions such as:
   - Calcifying odontogenic cyst

   - Craniopharyngioma
   - Pilomatricoma
   - Dentinogenic ghost cell tumor
   - Odontoma
   - Ghost cell odontogenic carcinoma

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