Detection of Malignancy in Body Fluids

Abstract

A prospective study of 300 body fluid specimens was undertaken to assess the role of cytocentrifuged, air-dried, Wright-Giemsa–stained slides in the detection of malignancy and to compare them with preparations stained by the Papanicolaou method. All cases in which differential cell counts and routine cytology were ordered by the clinician were included. The preparations were examined by independent observers and recorded as benign, atypical, suspicious for malignancy, and malignant. In 87% of the cases, the diagnoses were in complete agreement. Of these, 74% were benign, 11.3% were malignant, 1% were suspicious, and 0.7% were atypical. Of the remaining 13% of the cases, none of the diagnoses showed significant disagreement. The results indicate that the examination of cytocentrifuged Wrightstained preparations by the pathologist is a valuable, rapid method of screening for malignancy and should be routine procedure in the hematologic evaluation of body fluids.