Cytodiagnosis for pelvic tuberculosis

A 25 yr old married woman with complaints of lower abdominal pain for 2 months, was found to have a irregular nontender mass in pelvis, adherent to uterus. Her Papanicolaou smear was inflammatory. To confirm the diagnosis of either ovarian malignancy or pelvic tuberculosis made on the basis of observations during exploratory laparotomy, ovarian biopsy was taken. The imprint cytodiagnosis was tuberculosis. The patient was then managed surgically and the previous diagnosis was reconfirmed by histopathology. Imprint cytodiagnosis appears to be a valuable technique whenever facilities for frozen section are not available.