HOW ESSENTIAL IS CELL BLOCK PREPARATION IN EACH AND EVERY SPECIMEN OF BODY FLUID SENT FOR CYTOLOGY IN ADDITION TO CONVENTIONAL SMEAR- AN OBSERVATIONAL AND ANALYTICAL STUDY IN A TERTIARY CARE CENTRE

BACKGROUND Cytological evaluation of effusion fluid has become integral part of management especially in suspected malignant cases. Conventional Cytosmear (CS) is relatively simple, but sometimes become challenging to differentiate between reactive mesothelial cells and malignant cells. Hence, Cell Block (CB) preparation is increasingly gaining popularity for management, though it is time consuming, costly and little more cumbersome. MATERIALS AND METHODS All the fluid samples received in the departmental laboratory were divided into two parts for Leishman-Giemsa and Papanicolaou (PAP) stained conventional cytosmear and Haematoxylin-Eosin stained cell block preparation. Diagnoses obtained by CS and CB method were statistically analysed. RESULTS Out of total 115 fluid samples, 84 were pleural fluid, 24 ascitic fluid and 7 pericardial fluids. 9 cases in pleural fluid and 6 cases in ascitic fluid were false-negative by CS, which were proved to be malignant by CB method. So, additional 13.1% yield were obtained by CB method to diagnose malignant cases. CONCLUSION CB is superior to CS for diagnosis of malignant effusions and hence it should be used in adjunct to CS in difficult or suspected malignant cases for better yield