Gastroscopic cytology and biopsies in diagnosis of gastric malignancies

The outcome in gastric malignancy has changed in recent years owing to its early and accurate diagnosis employing fiber-optic endoscopy and histocytology. One hundred and two subjects with endoscopic demonstration of various gastric lesions were subjected for brush cytology and multiple biopsies. Observing a high degree of specificity, the accuracy of brush cytology was 81% and histology 72% with cumulative diagnostic yield of 91%. There was no false-positive report with cytology; histology, however, gave three false-positive results. The present study thus confirms the high diagnostic accuracy of brush cytology combined with multiple biopsies in gastric malignancies.