title: Riu's stain and the cytologic diagnosis of thyroid fine-needle aspiration: a single cancer center experience.
abstract: Riu's stain, a Romanowsky-type stain, has been in use in Taiwan over the past 40 years. In order to determine whether it is useful for the diagnosis of thyroid disease in thyroid fine-needle aspiration, we reviewed 254 of these aspirates obtained between April 1990 and June 1996 from patients seen in Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center in Taipei. Surgical follow-up was available for confirmation in 61 aspirations. The cytologic diagnosis was categorized into four groups: benign, 174; suspicious, 30; malignant, 41): and inadequate specimen, 9. There were two false-negative and no false-positive diagnoses. Our results showed a sensitivity of 93.5% and a specificity of 100% for the detection of malignancy. If suspicious cases were considered positive, the specificity decreased to 55%, while the sensitivity increased to 95%. We conclude that Riu's stain is a reliable quick stain in the diagnosis of thyroid malignancy. Compared to Papanicolaou stain, it shortens the time needed for a cytopathologist to reach a diagnosis. Papanicolaou stain can be reserved for confirmation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Koo Foundation Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Tsou
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Ko
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002277:Carcinoma; D018276:Carcinoma, Medullary / Q000473:pathology; D002291:Carcinoma, Papillary / Q000473:pathology; D004396:Coloring Agents; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013961:Thyroid Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D013964:Thyroid Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*
chemical_list: D004396:Coloring Agents