Efficacy of centrifuged liquid-based cytology over conventional cytology: A comparative study

Exfoliative cytology is the microscopic examination of a shed or desquamated cells from the epithelial surface. Centrifuged liquid-based cytology (CLBC) is a modified technique that is used in the current study.

To compare the efficacy of CLBC with conventional cytology in apparently normal mucosa and histologically proven cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma after staining with Papanicolaou stain.

The study sample was collected from fifty individuals with no habits and apparently normal oral mucosa (Group 1) and forty cases of histologically proven cases of oral squamous cell carcinoma (Group 2). One smear was taken and spread on the slide by a conventional technique. The second sample was flushed out in a suspending solution, centrifuged, and the cell pellet obtained was used to make the smear. The stained smears were compared for nine parameters such as adequate cellularity, clear background, uniform distribution, cellular overlapping, cellular elongation, mucus, inflammatory blood, and microbial colonies. Chi-square test was used for statistical analysis and P ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

There was a statistically significant result with parameters such as adequate cellularity, clear background, uniform distribution, cellular overlapping, and cellular elongation in CLBC technique, in comparison with the conventional technique. The presence of mucus, microbial colonies, and inflammatory cells were also less in CLBC technique in comparison with the conventional technique.

CLBC has better efficacy over conventional method in all the parameters analyzed.