Kawan bronchial brush/cell block technique - Facilitation of the routine diagnosis of bronchial neoplasms

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cell block preparations as a tool for the diagnosis of pulmonary malignancy and to correlate the findings with those from brush cytology and histology from forceps biopsy. STUDY DESIGN: One hundred twenty consecutive samples from patients with pri mary or metastatic lung cancer were routinely processed and stained for cyt ologic and histologic examination. In addition to smears, a cell block was prepared from each brushing sample. Brush smears, cell blocks and biopsy sp ecimens were compared and evaluated for their diagnostic accuracy. RESULTS: Brush cytology samples were interpreted as positive for malignancy in all 120 cases. In 42 cases immunohistochemistry performed on cell block s led to the final precise type diagnosis. Owing to technical problems (ste nosis, bleeding, peripheral location), forceps biopsy specimens were obtain ed from only 51 patients. CONCLUSION: In addition to lower patient risk, cell block preparation yield s high diagnostic accuracy and may thus be considered an improvement in qua lity assurance.