IDENTIFICATION OF 2ND MALIGNANCIES ON EFFUSIONS AND FINE-NEEDLE ASPIRATES USING A PANEL OF MONOCLONAL-ANTIBODIES

The longer survival of neoplastic patients achieved through improvemen ts of therapeutic regimens has increased the relative risk of developi ng a second primary tumour (SPT). In this context, conventional cytopa thology can define tumour histotype only in a small fraction of cases. In this study, we have evaluated whether selected combinations of mon oclonal antibodies (MAbs) to tumour-associated antigens (TAAs) can inc rease the accuracy of conventional morphology in detecting second prim ary tumours (SPTs) in two particularly difficult areas of cytodiagnosi s, namely that or effusions and pulmonary fine-needle aspirates (FNAs) . The immunocytochemical (ICC) analysis of 334 cytological specimens d emonstrated that the use of our selected panel of MAbs could allow a m ore efficient identification of SPTs in comparison with conventional m orphology. This diagnostic improvement was statistically significant ( P<0.0001). The present findings show that the immunophenotyping of eff usions and FNAs, providing a more accurate and objective identificatio n of SPTs, may have significant therapeutic and epidemiological releva nce.