An Aspiration Material Preparation System: Application of a New Liquid-Based Cytology Technique for Fine-Needle Aspiration of the Breast

Objective To evaluate the usefulness of our original liquid-based cell preparation system AMAPS (aspiration material preparation system) and to compare it with the AutoSmear system in breast aspiration cytology Study Design A total of 487 specimens of fine-needle aspiration cytology of the breast were retrieved, of which 250 were processed with AMAPS and 237 with the AutoSmear method (before the introduction of AMAPS) A final histological diagnosis was obtained by an excisional biopsy or a surgical resection in 148 cases Results Cell recovery rates were significantly improved with AMAPS (96 8 and 991% in Papanicolaou and Diff-Quik, respectively) compared with the AutoSmear method (40 9 and 42 3%, respectively, p < 0 01) Within-run and day-to-day reproducibility of cell recovery was satisfactory, with coefficients of variations of 6 8 and 8 7%, respectively Following the introduction of AMAPS in breast cytology, the unsatisfactory rate decreased significantly (from 160 to 8 8%, p < 001), while the diagnostic sensitivity for malignancy did not change (97 8 to 98 1%) Moreover, the diagnostic specificity for benign lesions increased from 75 to 93 8%, thus decreasing the excision rate of fibrocystic disease Conclusion AMAPS may serve as an alternative to the conventional technique or commercially available liquid-based cytology systems Copyright (C) 2010 S Karger AG Basel