title: Diagnostic utility of cell-block from bronchial washing in pulmonary neoplasms.
abstract: In order to evaluate the usefulness of cell-block (CB) bronchial washing in the diagnosis of pulmonary neoplasms, we examined cytological samples of 1,145 bronchoscopies; CBs could be prepared in 777 cases (67.9%) and 201 cases, positive or suspicious for malignancy, were selected for the study (173/201 smears: 86.1%; 174/201 CBs: 86.6%). CBs were positive in 12 cases while the corresponding smears were negative (10 cases) or suspicious (2 cases); 2 cases had suspicious CBs with negative smears. Thus, the use of CBs increased the positive diagnosis from 173 to 185 cases, for an increase of 6.5%. We can conclude that CB could be a routine, inexpensive method, helpful in pulmonary neoplasm's diagnosis; moreover, CB has the advantage of being an histologic specimen, often the only one, useful for other diagnostic procedures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Pordenone City Hospital, Italy.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Calabretto
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Giol
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sulfaro
mesh_terms: D018893:Bronchoalveolar Lavage / Q000379:methods*; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests