Background: Liquid based cytology is a method of retrieving and processing of cytological material for assessment of both gynecological and non-gynecological cases introduced in 1996. Lung cancer is broadly classified into two categories are Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC), with the latter being more common.
Aims: To study the diagnostic accuracy obtained for the bronchial wash and bronchial brush cytology with Conventional Smears (CS) and Liquid Based Cytology (LBC).
Material &Methods: All patients who were clinically and radiologically suspected of lung cancer were included in this study. Bronchoscopy was performed in all cases. Bronchial brushing and washing were collected and processed as conventional smear cytology and liquid based cytology smear was processed using the SurePath system. Bronchial biopsies were received, processed and stained with haematoxylin & eosin stain.
Results: A total of 104 cases, 24 benign cases 5 of which reactive, out of 19 inflammatory, 11of which shows chronic granulomatous inflammation. Out of 65 malignant cases, squamous cell carcinoma was the most common malignancy accounting for 35 cases, followed by 17 cases of adenocarcinoma, 7 of adenosquamous carcinoma, 4 of small cell carcinoma and 2 cases of carcinoid tumor. The remaining 15 cases were unremarkable on bronchial biopsy. Bronchial brushing and washing in liquid based cytology method showed higher sensitivity, a higher specificity and increased diagnostic accuracy when compared to conventional cytology and the difference were found to be statistically significant.
Conclusions: The liquid based cytology was better than conventional cytology and should be performed in all suspected cases of lung cancer where biopsy is not possible.
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2022: 6.012
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