ABSTRACT
Background:Theintra-operative cytology in the evaluation of central nervous system (CNS) lesions isasimpleandrapidtechnique, and a usefultool. There is not much literature available on the value of crush cytology during the operation. The current study was planned to assess the feasibility and efficacy of intra-operative squash cytology as standalone method in the rapid intra-operative diagnosis of intracranial tumor.Methods:A prospective observational study was carried out in the department of neurology in collaboration with department of pathology, Medanta: The Medicity, Gurugram, for a period of six months from January 2019 toJune 2019, on randomly selected 60 patients, aged: 18 years and above. Two to three tissue bits, from different sites of the mass, were taken to prepare squash cytology smear.Results:Out of 60 patients operated, 54 had neoplastic and 6 had non-neoplastic lesions. Neoplastic benign lesions were observed in 41 patients and neoplastic malignant lesions were diagnosed in 13 patients. There was 17.67% offering a wrong diagnosis on crush cytology. Out of the 13 cases of meningioma, there was a discrepancy in 3 (three) cases.Conclusions:Crushcytologyisausefuladjuncttothediagnosisinneurosurgicalpractice.Thisstudysuggests and confirms the reliability of squash cytology, but further multicentre studies with larger number of patients may help to decide its use in clinical practice.