[Application of cell transfer technology in pathological diagnosis of micro-volume cell fluid]

To explore the key technical points and value of cell transfer technology in the diagnosis of micro-volume cell fluid.

In the study, 32 micro-volume cell fluid samples with the diagnosis of tumor or atypical cells in the Department of Pathology, Peking University First Hospital were collected from September 2024 to June 2025. The cells on the ThinPrep cytology test (TCT) slides were divided into several sections and transferred to corresponding slides for immunocytochemistry (ICC) and special staining. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining slides before and after transfer were compared to evaluate the performance of cell transfer technology in maintaining the consistency of cell morphology. The re-diagnosis referring to the results of ICC and special staining of transfer slides were made. The diagnosis before and after cell transfer was compared to evaluate the value of technology in improving the differential diagnostic accuracy.

A total of 140 cell transfer slides were prepared from the 32 samples. Among them, 32 HE-stained slides were consistent with the original TCT slides in terms of staining quality, cell morphology and arrangement, with a success rate of 100%; 99 transfer slides were immuno-stained, of which 91 had accurate color and position of positivity and clear background of negativity, with a success rate of 91.91%; 9 special-stained slides had sharp color contrast and clear background, with a success rate of 100%. With the help of ICC and special staining results of transfer slides, 26 of the 32 samples were accurately diagnosed, including 18 cases of malignant tumors and 8 cases of non-neoplastic lesions; 6 cases remained undiagnosed, including four due to ICC staining failure and two due to too few cells. Compared with the original cytological diagnosis, a definitive differential diagnosis was obtained in 81.25% of cases after cell transfer.

The application of cell transfer technology in TCT samples is feasible in clinical practice and is suitable for cases requiring ICC and special staining for auxiliary diagnosis. It can significantly improve the differential diagnostic accuracy for the micro-volume cell fluid samples, which is invaluable for the special cases which pathological diagnosis can only be made based on the micro-volume cell fluid samples because no more tissue sample is available.