Cytology Specimens

Cytologic specimens are obtained from patients by minimally invasive methods:

• Brushings and scrapes (e.g., bronchial brushing, gastrointestinal [GI] brushing, Papanicolaou [Pap] test)

• Washings (e.g., bronchial washing, bronchoalveolar lavage, peritoneal washing)

• Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of mass lesions

• Body cavity effusions (e.g., cerebrospinal fluid [CSF], pleural effusion)

• Sputum

• Urine

Cytologic preparations can also be made from surgically excised specimens (touch or scrape preparations).

Cytologic specimens have the following advantages over excisional specimens or large core needle biopsies:

• minimal or no morbidity (except for rare complications after pulmonary FNA or at other sites)

• excellent cytologic preservation (e.g., crush and cautery artifacts are absent)

• large areas and multiple areas can be sampled

• cells and nuclei are intact (an advantage for certain studies such as in situ hybridization [ISH] as all nuclear DNA is present)

• specimen acquisition, preparation, and examination can be performed in a short period of time

• an initial evaluation by cytology can be used to assess whether the lesion has been sampled adequately, or to guide allocation for ancillary studies—this is especially helpful when lesional tissue is limited