Cell block cytology in pleural effusion.
Cell blocks prepared from residual tissue fluid can be used as adjuncts to smear for establishing a more definitive cytopathological diagnosis. It can be useful for categorisation also. Improved ethanol formalin fixative is used which offers excellent cytomorphologic features corresponding closely to cell in Papanicolaou stained smears. The technique is simple, safe, cost effective and reproducible even in resource limited rural areas. In this study among a total of 60 cases of suspected malignant pleural effusion, 56 were confirmed to be of malignant aetiology by all modalities. Only cell block preparation diagnosed 46 cases. Other modalities of diagnosis like bronchoscopy, broncho-alveolar lavage fluid study, fine needle aspiration cytology also have a great role in diagnosis. Twenty-two cases were diagnosed by Papanicolaou stain smear. So cell block preparation have more effective role in definitive diagnosis. It can be useful for better diagnosis in cases of poorly differentiated malignant neoplasms by immunocytochemistry.
Department of Chest Medicine, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata 700014.
Indranath
I
Ghosh
Subir Kumar
SK
Dey
Anjan
A
Das
Debojyoti
D
Bhattacharjee
Subir
S
Gangopadhyay
D000368:Aged; D044963:Biopsy, Fine-Needle / Q000379:methods; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000379:methods; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000473:pathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies