The value of cytology in evaluation of coelomic fluids

Author: 
Tanvi Mittal., Sweta., Parveen Shah and Uma Sharma

Introduction: Abnormal collection of fluids in pleural and peritoneal cavity constitutes to one of the major causes of morbidity often presenting as a common diagnostic dilemma. Exfoliative cytology is a cost effective, and rapid tool for the evaluation of body fluids.
Aims and objectives: To determine the diagnostic yield of fluid cytology to reach the etiological diagnosis of pleural and peritoneal effusion.
Material and Methods: This was a prospective study conducted on 62 patients of pleural and peritoneal effusion during the period of 6 months between January 2017 to June 2017 presenting to the department of Pathology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, SGT University, Gurgaon.
Result: Out of 62 fluids analysed 36 were pleural and 26 were peritoneal. Most common age of presentation was 21-30 years for pleural effusion and 41-50 years for ascites with male predominance. Most common etiology was tuberculosis (63%) for pleural fluids and chronic liver disease (38.4%) for peritoneal fluids. Fluids were predominantly exudative (80% pleural and 41.6% peritoneal). On cytology most common cases were of chronic effusion (86.1% pleural and 76.9% peritoneal) followed by inflammatory and malignancy.
Conclusion: Cytological examination of fluids is a simple and minimally invasive step in the diagnostic work up of patients. It has high diagnostic sensitivity and helps the clinician in formulating the correct algorithm for treatment purpose.

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.12628.2226
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