ABSTRACT
Introduction: The intraoperative diagnostic accuracy of a tumor is an essential part in patients’ work-up. If the surgeon finds it malignant during surgery, widespread dissection including lymph nodes can be done simultaneously and thus preventing the need of second surgery. Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the accuracy of imprint cytology (IC) for the intraoperative diagnosis in patients with tumor and its usefulness in low facility set up. The diagnostic accuracy of IC has been compared with histopathological examination (HPE), the gold standard diagnostic. Material and methods: This study included 55 patients presenting as a tumor mass of different organs with clinically diagnosed as malignant. In the operation theater, smears for IC were made from cut surfaces of tumors. These ware stained with Papanicolaou stain and hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain. The results of IC were compared with HPE using H&E staining. Results: This study included tumor specimens of five from lymph nodes, three from cervix, 31 from breast, four from gastrointestinal tract (GIT), three from parotid gland, five from ovary, one from uterine corpus and three from skin. Table 3 shows categorization of benign and malignant tumors. Locally infiltrative tumors have been shown in benign tumor list. The result of my study is as follows: IC for benign and locally infiltrative tumors gave 100% accuracy and that for malignant tumor it was 34/35 (97%) accuracy. The only case which was misdiagnosed as reactive lymph node (LN), which was turned out to be as Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Conclusion: Intraoperative IC is a useful method for evaluating tumors. The simplicity of technique can be used at small centers with low facility set-up.