CYTOLOGIC EVALUATION OF CONJUNCTIVAL EPITHELIUM USING CYTOBRUSH-S - VALUE OF SLIDE PREPARATION BY THINPREP TECHNIQUE

Recent clinical trials have indicated that an automated smear apparatu s (ThinPrep process) of sample preparation has great diagnostic sensit ivity. In this study, conjunctival brush cytology prepared using the T hinPrep method was applied in ocular surface disorders especially for dry eye status. To assess its diagnostic value in cellular samples, 17 patients with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) and 10 normal voluntee r patients were examined using this technique. Conjunctival cells from normal controls revealed fine chromatin and polyhedral cytoplasm with out having keratinized cytoplasm. On the other hand, the cellular samp les from KCS revealed increased keratinized cells with pyknotic nuclei . They also contained extremely elongated cells. In KCS patients, the mean number of keratinized cells was significantly higher (34.1 cells/ 300 cells) than that of the normal control group (0.2 cells/300 cells) . In patients with KCS, inflammatory cell counts were also higher than those of normal controls. Conjunctival cytology by means of the ThinP rep method obviously deserves additional trials as an adjunct in the c ytology of dry eye states, especially in quantitative ocular evaluatio n for various ocular lesions.