ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the diagnostic value of alcohol fixation and liquid-based cytology method for malignant stricture of common bile duct and to study the interval time between sampling and fixation for procedure of alcohol fixation.Methods Data of 82 patients were retrospectively studied,who were suspected of having malignant stricture of common bile duct underwent brushing through endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP),and were confirmed by follow-up for 2 years or pathology after surgery from October 2008 to June 2013.These patients were randomly divided into alcohol fixation group (n =30),liquid-based cytology group (n =28) and conventional cytology group (n =24).The positive diagnostic rates of brush cytology in each group were compared.The alcohol fixation group were randomly divided into 2-minute group and 5-minute group according to the interval time between sampling and fixation.Positive diagnostic rates were also compared.Results The positive rates were 73.33% (alcohol fixation group,22/30),75.00% (liquid-based cytology group,21/28) and 20.83% (conventional cytology group,5/24),respectively.The positive rate of conventional cytology group was obviously lower than alcohol fixation group (x2 =21.525,P=0.000) and liquid-based cytology group (x2 =22.208,P =0.000) with statistical significance.But the positive rate of alcohol fixation group was similar to the liquid-based cytology group (x2 =0.683,P =0.898).In alcohol fixation group,the positive rate of 2-min group (88.24%,15/17) was significantly higher than the 5-min group (53.85%,7/13) with statistical significance (x2 =4.535,P =0.033).Conclusion Compared with conventional fixation,alcohol fixation and liquid-based cytology can improve positive diagnostic rate of brushing during ERCP.The alcohol fixation is more simple in procedure and low in cost than liquid-based cytology.The interval time between sampling and fixation should be reduced to no more than 2 minutes.