Ultrafast Papanicolaou stain is not limited to rapid assessments: application to permanent fine-needle aspiration smears.
Ultrafast Papanicolaou (Pap) stain, a 90-second preparation originally designed for the immediate assessment of fine-needle aspiration (FNA) smears (Yang and Alvarez, Acta Cytol 1995;39:55-60), can also be adapted for permanent FNA smears. It involves the addition of three simple steps prior to the conventional Pap procedure: the first step is to make the cells appear larger, thus increasing the resolution for analysis of cellular details; the second step is to hemolyse the background blood, thus unmasking tumor cells; and the third step is to bring out the vibrant colors in the cells and the nucleoli, which stain red.
Department of Pathology, Papanicolaou Cytology Laboratory, New York Hospital/Cornell Medical Center, NY 10021, USA.
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D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology; D001707:Biopsy, Needle / Q000379:methods*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods*