[Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology using "cytospin" in patients with brain tumors (author's transl)]

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cytology was performed using cytocentrifugation method ("Cytospin") in 88 preoperative patients who had been known to have deeply seated brain tumors by CT. 20 cases (22.7%) among them showed positive findings and 11 cases (12.5%) probably positive findings. High incidence of positive results were obtained in germinomas (60.9%), ependymomas (50.0%), medulloblastomas (40.0%), followed by malignant lymphomas (20.0%), pontine gliomas (16.7%) and metastatic tumors (16.7%). In contrast, it was persistently negative in cerebral astrocytomas, glioblastomas, teratomas, epidermoids, meningiomas and neurinomas. This method was quickly prepared in 30 minutes and was superior in retaining detailed cytomorphology. It was concluded that the CSF cytology is a less invasive diagnostic investigation, can provide an additional information as regards the nature of some kinds of brain tumors and is still useful even in the CT era.