HISTOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF CLOTS FROM CYTOLOGICAL SPECIMENS - IS THIS A WORTHWHILE PROCEDURE

A comparison of conventional cytology and clot histology was made on 1 74 serous fluids, fine needle aspirates (FNA) and other non-gynaecolog ical specimens. In eight cases (4.5%) this clot material contained mal ignant cells or cells suspicious of malignancy despite the absence of suspicious or malignant cells in conventionally prepared smears from t he same specimen. In 11 cases (6.3%) the clot was negative, although c onventional smears contained malignant or suspicious cells. A chi(2) t est showed that there was no statistically significant difference betw een the number of positive diagnostic scores in each group with chi(2) Of 0.223 (degrees of freedom-1), P=0.637. Examination of clot materia l from serous fluids and FNA aspirates is as effective as examination of conventional cytological preparations. Processing df clots from cyt ological aspirates for histological examination should be more widely adopted, and is applicable in all cytopathology laboratories.