[Laboratory tests on cancer--cytology]

A comparative study was performed on needle aspiration cytology and the histological grading of 34 cases of small liver cancers. According to the Edmondson-Steiner's classification, 9 of the 34 cases were Grade I, 10 cases were a mixture of Grades I and II and 15 were Grade II or a mixture of Grades II and III or Grades I, II and III. The group consisting of Grade II and mixtures of Grades II and III or Grades I, Ii and III were diagnosed by needle aspiration cytology using cytological criteria described previously, but cases consisting of Grade I and mixtures of Grades I and II were very difficult to diagnose because of the relative lack of cellular atypia, and the diagnostic accuracy in this group was low. Retrospectively, ceLlularity, cellular architecture and the nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio were the most valuable cytological findings in the cases of Edmondson-Steiner's Grade I and the mixture of Grades I and II. In addition, some cases of small liver cancers had characteristically large lipid vacuoles which resembled a signet ring cell. Imprint cytology of neuroblastomas is a rapid diagnostic test which is very useful for differential diagnosis of neuroblastoma from other childhood solid tumors. Recently, flow cytometric DNA analysis and the N-myc oncogene have been proposed as important factors in the estimation of the prognosis of neuroblastomas. Three of fore patients with aneuploid DNA under the age of 1.5 years at diagnosis survive, while five of eight patients with diploid DNA over the age of 1.5 years at diagnosis died during a 12 to 120 month follow-up.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)