[The cytomorphological diagnosis of benign tumors of the peripheral nervous system]

Results of cytologic examination of punctates, imprints and scrapings as well as histologic sections of benign tumors of peripheral nerves surgically removed from 95 patients were used to study peculiarities of cytologic appearance and develop criteria for cytologic identification of the nature and histogenesis of those tumors. The analysis outlined the role of cytologic examination of punctates in complex preoperative diagnosis of peripheral nerve tumors. The procedure established the benign nature of tumor in 75.5% of cases whereas its histologic pattern was identified in 55.5%.