DIAGNOSTIC UTILITY OF VARIOUS TECHNIQUES IN BODY FLUID CYTOLOGY- A COMPARISON BETWEEN ORDINARY CENTRIFUGE, CYTOCENTRIFUGE AND CELL BLOCK TECHNIQUES

BACKGROUND Cytological examination of serous effusions has been done for nearly a century and it has helped in staging and prognosis of the malignant tumours and also gave information regarding various inflammatory lesions of serous membranes. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was a Descriptive study. The body effusions include peritoneal, pleural and pericardial fluids received in cytology section of Department of Pathology, Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal from 1st January 2017 to 31st May 2017. Conventional smears and Cytocentrifuge smears were prepared from each sample. Remaining fluid was processed histopathologically for preparation of cell block. RESULTS Out of total 85 effusion fluids, 42 cases were suspected/diagnosed for malignancy with body effusions. Out of 42 cases, ordinary centrifuge detected 10 (23.8%) samples as positive for malignancy and cell block has detected 36 (85.7%) cases positive for malignant cells, whereas cytocentrifuge has detected 30 (71.4%) cases positive for malignancy and 6 (14.3%) cases suspicious for presence of malignant cells. CONCLUSION In our study, we have concluded that cell block and cytocentrifuge techniques are superior in detecting malignant cells in effusion fluids compared to ordinary centrifuge. Cell block also gives advantage of performing ancillary techniques for further study.