title: Immunocytochemistry: It's role in diagnosis of undifferentiated neoplasms by fine needle aspiration cytology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is a rapid, cheap and reliable method for diagnosing any accessible lesion. However, there remains a group of malignant undifferentiated neoplasms, which can only be categorized with the help of immunocytochemistry (ICC). The categorization is important due to their vast difference in treatment and prognosis.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the effectiveness of ICC in categorizing the undifferentiated neoplasms diagnosed on routine FNAC smears.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty six cases of undifferentiated neoplasms were selected from a group of total 78 cytology cases of undifferentiated tumors from different sites like head and neck, lymph node, soft tissue etc. These were then subjected to a panel of ICC markers based on the clinical and cytomorphological features.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of these, 21 were simple, ten were computerized tomography guided and five were ultrasound guided FNACs respectively. All the 78 cases were confirmed by histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry. Of the 36 cytological cases, final diagnosis correlated in 30 cases histologically. The six cases were incorrect either due to inadequate material on the smears (three cases) or false positive staining (three cases).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study found that ICC is a sensitive and specific method for early and definitive diagnosis of undifferentiated neoplasms. However, selection of antibodies must be judicious to make it cost effective.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Medical College, Thakurpukur, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Palash Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: Santosh Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mondal
authors.forename: Shravasti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Anindya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adhikari
authors.forename: Nandita
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Basu
authors.forename: Swapan Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sinha
keywords: Fine needle aspiration cytology; immunocytochemistry; malignant neoplasm; undifferentiated