WASHED-BIOPSY CYTOLOGY OF ABDOMINAL LESIONS

The accuracy of an alternative method of preparing cytologic smears fr om material collected tinder laparoscopic examination was studied. ''W ashed-biopsy'' cytology teas performed by saline solution lavage of th e fragments using a cytocentrifuge. Rich and well-preserved cellularit y was obtained. Among 51 cases, cytology revealed 12 benign, 3 suspici ous and 36 malignant cases, including 9 true negatives, 3 false negati ves and 36 true positives. Suspicious cases were excluded from the ana lysis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and efficiency, when comparing the cytologic to the definitive diagnoses, were, respectively, 92.3%, 100.0%, 100.0%, 75.0% and 93.7% . We recommend the routine use of the washed-biopsy method in laparosc opic examinations to improve the accuracy of cytologic investigations.