title: Endoscopic techniques in the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal tract malignancies. A comparison.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To perform a comparative evaluation of various endoscopic techniques in the diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal tract malignancies.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty cases of suspected malignancy involving the upper gastrointestinal tract were studied. In all 30 cases, four endoscopic cytology techniques (brushing before biopsy, brushing after biopsy, fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] and suction cytology) were evaluated and correlated with histology by forceps biopsy. All the cytologic techniques were used and forceps biopsy carried out in a single sitting, but the forceps biopsy was repeated in 4 of 30 cases.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The respective positive yields of brushing before biopsy, brushing after biopsy, FNAC, suction cytology and forceps biopsy were 80.0%, 86.6%, 83.3%, 76.6% and 90.0%. When two cytologic techniques were combined, 100% accuracy was obtained by brushing after biopsy and FNAC and brushing before biopsy and suction cytology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Brushing cytology is a sensitive diagnostic test, and the combined use of biopsy and brushing offers the highest probability of identifying malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, India.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Puri
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Chinna
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Chawla
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Sabharwal
mesh_terms: D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal / Q000379:methods*; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests