Though there are nucleoli present in this atypical lymphocyte, it does not necessarily mean that this is a malignant cell. Cytocentrifugation can expose nucleoli in cells that would not normally appear in the cells on a peripheral blood smear. The balanced amount of cytoplasm in comparison to the nucleus and the overall size of the cell are consistent with the range of variation found with atypical lymphocytes.
In this smear, there is also an atypical (plasmacytoid) lymph in the lower left of the cluster (green arrow) and a basophil in the lower right (orange arrow).
