Efficacy and Utility of Bronchial Cytology in diagnosing Lung Lesions and its Histopathological Correlation

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Original Article

Author Details : M. Pavani, Ch. Geetha, L. Peter Ericson, Ashok K. Deshpande

Volume : 4, Issue : 2, Year : 2017

Article Page : 221-226

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Abstract

Introduction: The advent of flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy has revolutionized pulmonary cytology. In the recent past emphasis has been given to bronchial cytology which is as effective as histopathology in diagnosing the pulmonary lesions. Cytology aids in diagnosing the patients with advanced malignancies, risk of hemorrhage, and lesions at inaccessible sites. Bronchial cytology can be used in detecting lesions of non-neoplastic and infective etiology also.

Objectives:

1.                    To determine the sensitivity, specificity and efficacy of bronchial cytology in detecting neoplastic and   non-neoplastic lung lesions.

2.                    To study the utility of bronchial cytology in diagnosing lung lesions.

3.                    To compare and correlate cytological diagnosis with corresponding histopathology.

Materials and Method: A retrospective and prospective study of 60 patients who underwent flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy from January 2011 to December 2015 in our institution was done. Out of the 60 cases, 40 cases had cytological and histopathological correlation. The utility and efficacy of cytology in detecting neoplastic and non-neoplastic lung lesions has been studied.
Results: Overall sensitivity and specificity of bronchial cytology is 93.75% and 83.33% respectively. Positive predictive value in detecting the lesions is 78.95%.
Conclusions: Bronchial cytology is a valuable and useful tool, which can be used for establishing diagnosis in advanced cases, in patients with risk of hemorrhage or when the lesion is inaccessible for biopsy. Bronchial cytology yields almost the same information as that of histopathology.

Keywords: Fiberoptic bronchoscopy, Bronchial cytology, Histopathological correlation, True Positive, True Negative

How to cite : Pavani M, Geetha C, Ericson L P, Deshpande A K, Efficacy and Utility of Bronchial Cytology in diagnosing Lung Lesions and its Histopathological Correlation. Indian J Pathol Oncol 2017;4(2):221-226

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