Imprint cytology in the endoscopic diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancies

To compare imprint cytology with histopathology regarding diagnostic accuracies and quickness in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancies.

Multiple endoscopic biopsies were taken from 146 patients having various lesions without a prior histopathological diagnosis. Imprint smears were prepared, using all biopsied tissues, on 3-5 slides. Tissues were fixed in 10% formalin. Time from the materials were received at the pathology laboratory to when the results were available was recorded. Cytopathologists and histopathologists, blinded to each other's diagnosis, examined the imprint smears and tissues.

Average time to get imprint cytology results was shorter than that of histopathology (55 minutes vs. 8 days). Fifty-eight patients had a final diagnosis of malignancy. Histopathology and imprint were positive in 56 and 54, respectively. Eighty-eight patients had benign histopathology, all of these had negative imprint results. False-negative and false-positive rates for imprint were 6.8%, 0% and for histopathology were 3.4%, 0%, respectively.

Imprint cytology is an easy, reliable method that can be used as an adjunctive measure with histopathology. It gives the earliest information about the nature of the lesion with a minimum misdiagnosis risk. Imprint cytology lets the surgeon plan a therapeutic strategy approximately 1 week earlier.