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Updated: May 24, 2026

Determination of Protein Expression Level in Cultured Cells by Immunocytochemistry on Paraffin-embedded Cell Blocks

Determination of Protein Expression Level in Cultured Cells by Immunocytochemistry on Paraffin-embedded Cell Blocks

Published on: May 20, 2018

Enhanced cellularity in plasma-thrombin cell block preparations: an improved method.

Joseph Hellrung¹, Erek Kucher², Mariah Vande Berg²

¹Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wisconsin.

Journal of the American Society of Cytopathology

|May 22, 2026

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An improved plasma-thrombin method for cell blocks significantly increases cellularity and diagnostic adequacy in cytologic preparations. This cost-effective enhancement improves the diagnostic yield from body fluid samples.

Area of Science:

Cytopathology
Histology
Laboratory Medicine

Background:

Cell blocks are crucial for histologic evaluation and ancillary testing in cytology.
Standard plasma-thrombin methods often result in low cellularity, limiting diagnostic potential.
Suboptimal cellular material can hinder accurate cytologic diagnoses.

Purpose of the Study:

To validate an improved plasma-thrombin method for enhancing cell block cellularity.
To assess the impact of method modifications on diagnostic adequacy in cytologic samples.
To evaluate the clinical utility and cost-effectiveness of the enhanced method.

Main Methods:

An improved plasma-thrombin method was developed, incorporating a second centrifugation step and phloxine dye.
Paired body fluid samples (n=20) were processed using standard and improved methods.

Keywords:

Body fluids Cell blocks Enhanced cellularity Plasma-thrombin improved method Quality improvement

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Last Updated: May 24, 2026

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Cellularity was quantified using digital image analysis; adequacy was compared before and after hospital-wide implementation.

Main Results:

The improved method increased median cell counts from 178 to 292 cells per field (P = 0.039).
Diagnostic adequacy improved significantly from 56.5% to 80.1% after implementation (P < 0.001).
The enhanced method demonstrated complete diagnostic concordance in validation cases.

Conclusions:

Simple modifications to the plasma-thrombin method substantially improve cellularity and adequacy of cell blocks.
This low-cost approach enhances the diagnostic yield of cytologic preparations.
The improved method has the potential to reduce the need for repeat procedures.