ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Central nervous system lesions can be localized precisely with the help of computerized tomography (CT). However, rapid cytological diagnosis of lesions by imprint and/or squash smear technique is useful to assist the operating surgeon to avoid unnecessary craniotomy. The present study was conducted with the aim to study the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of the two types of smears in central nervous system lesions while taking histology as gold standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the present study 149 lesions of the central nervous system were studied by squash and imprint smear techniques and results were compared with histology. Cytology smears were stained with May-Grunwald-Giemsa and Pap stain. Histopathology smears were stained with haematoxylin and eosin stain. RESULTS: Out of 149 cases, 85 were malignant and 64 cases were either benign or non-neoplastic lesions. The sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy by squash smear were 90.6%, 87.5% and 89.3% respectively and that of the imprint smears were found to be 92.9%, 90.6% and 92.0%. The combined sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of both techniques were even greater (95.3%, 93.8% and 94.6%). CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that imprint smear examination is superior to the squash smear for diagnosing lesions of the central nervous system.
