Ascites in Ovarian Carcinoma - Reliability and Limitations of Cytological Analysis

The objective of this study was to examine the validity of ascitic fluid cytology in the detection of pathological findings, to examine the percentage of false positive and false negative results in the cytology of ascitic fluid and to determine the validity of peritoneal cytology in relation to the histopathological type of the ovarian tumour.

This retrospective study included 170 peritoneal cytology findings. The study was conducted from January 2010 to December 2012. The experimental group included 76 cytology findings obtained from patients diagnosed with ovarian carcinoma, whereas the control group was composed of 94 cytology findings of benign ovarian tumours and liver cirrhosis ascites. The patients with ovarian carcinoma had grades III, as well as grades I and IIc but only in cases where operative and pathological finding indicated a ruptured or perforated tumour capsule.

The sensitivity of peritoneal cytology is 68.92%, specificity is 93.61%, positive predictive value is 89.65% and negative predictive value is 78.57%. In 30.02% of patients, the peritoneal cytology showed false negative results, while in 6.38%, the results were false positive. The highest percentage of false negative findings was 77%, found in endometrioid carcinoma.

Peritoneal cytology of ascitic fluid is highly specific but has relatively low sensitivity, particularly in the case of endometrioid ovarian carcinoma. In order to increase sensitivity, peritoneal cytology should be combined with monoclonal antibodies and other biochemical and immunohistochemical markers.