Washed-biopsy cytology of abdominal lesions

The accuracy of an alternative method of preparing cytologic smears from material collected under laparoscopic examination was studied. "Washed-biopsy" cytology was performed by saline solution lavage of the fragments using a cytocentrifuge. Rich and well-preserved cellularity was obtained. Among 51 cases, cytology revealed 12 benign, 3 suspicious and 36 malignant cases, including 9 true negatives, 3 false negatives and 36 true positives. Suspicious cases were excluded from the analysis. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and efficiency, when comparing the cytologic to the definitive diagnoses, were, respectively, 92.3%, 100.0%, 100.0%, 75.0% and 93.7%. We recommend the routine use of the washed-biopsy method in laparoscopic examinations to improve the accuracy of cytologic investigations.