Imprint cytology: a simple, cost effectiveness analysis for diagnosing Helicobacter pylori, in west of Iran

ABSTRACT

This study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value [PPV], negative predictive values [NPV] and agreement between two methods of the stained gastric imprint cytology smears and stained gastric specimen biopsy mucosal methods for detection of H. pylori. Air-dried imprint smears of gastric biopsies from 330 patients were stained by the Grunwald- Giemsa method in the endoscopy suite and examined for H. pylori, providing results within minutes. The grade of H pylori infection was documented. The same biopsy was processed and stained with HandE and Grunwald- Giemsa stains, and reviewed by two different pathologists blind to the imprint cytology results. Ninety-four of the 238 patients were male with a mean age of 46 [ +/- 16.4] years. Based on histology, the H. pylori prevalence was very high at 77.87% and according to cytology H.Pylori prevalence was high at 75.45% in this region our country. The sensitivity and specificity of imprint cytology in the detection of H. pylori were 96.88% and 90.12%, respectively. The PPV and NPV were 96.88% and 90.12%, respectively. The agreement between two diagnostic methods was 95.26% which confirms reliability of imprint cytology method for ion of H.pylori detection. Gastric imprint smears stained with Grunwald-Giemsa method is a rapid and cost effective method in addition to histology for detecting H. pylori in patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and biopsy. It does not require any additional biopsy