Table 1.

List of potentially misleading terminologies identified

Potentially misleading terms	Why are they misleading, imprecise, or confusing?
Prefix (pseudo-)
Pseudo-	Term used when something appears to be something else; imprecise
Pseudotumor	Term used to refer to any number of pathologies, both benign and malignant, that may produce a mass; imprecise
Pseudolymphoma	Old term used to refer to an inflammatory lesion that mimics a lymphoma, not any longer recommended; imprecise
Pseudoinvasion or pseudoinvasive	Spectrum of histologic changes producing the appearance of invasion; imprecise
Suffix (-oid)
-oid	Suffix used to create an adjective; used when something is like something else; imprecise and undefined
Carcinoid	Term that is falling out of favor as there are more precise definitions of this neuroendocrine tumor; imprecise
Epithelioid	Adjective used to describe many different types of cells that look like epithelial cells to the microscopist, but for which the cell type is often not specified in a description; imprecise
Rhabdoid	Used in an undefined manner for a number of tumor appearances; imprecise
Pagetoid	Used to refer to a spectrum of appearances in an undefined manner; imprecise
Suffix (-like)
-like	Similar to –oid, but by usage and convention is applied to different terms; undefined
Adenoma-like	Term used to mean something that is not a neoplasm, but simulates a benign epithelial neoplasm; undefined
Osteoclast-like	Used to refer to multi-nucleated giant cells that appear to look like osteoclasts, but are not situated in bone; undefined
Microinvasion/microinvasive	May be different definitions of this term depending on location; imprecise
Dysplasia
Dysplasia	Two definitions of dysplasia; often used imprecisely
Serrated dysplasia	Often used in an undefined manner
High-grade dysplasia	Often used imprecisely
Low-grade dysplasia	Often used imprecisely
Dysplastic epithelium	Often used imprecisely
Degeneration/degenerative: what is degenerative? How do we know it is degenerative?
Malignant degeneration	Lower grade neoplasms do not degenerate, they transform into high-grade neoplasms
Cystic degeneration	Most lesions do not truly form epithelial-lined cysts
Degenerative nuclear atypia	Imprecise array of nuclear changes that overlap with malignant changes; implies that a judgment has been made that a lesion is not malignant
Degenerative changes	Refers to a spectrum of changes that may or may not be ‘degenerative’
Eponyms: may be difficult to remember and often used in days before lesions were fully defined; many eponymous conditions have been shown to be other entities upon recent investigation and are therefore used improperly
Barrett esophagus	Refers to a spectrum of changes occurring in lower esophagus that can be defined more precisely
Langerhans cell histiocytosis	Refers to a spectrum of disease processes that are now considered to be neoplasms
Paget disease	Two distinct types of Paget disease; term often used imprecisely when referring to intraepithelial lesions
Latinate terms: Difficult to use and remember
Leiomyomatosis peritonealis disseminata