Evaluating cell block and cell smear technique in the body-cavity fluids cytology technique at Viet Tiep Hospital

Background/Purpose: To evaluate cell block (CB) and cell smear (CS) techniques in the diagnostic cytology of body-cavity fluids. Methods: The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted based on the anatomical results of 106 patients of Viet Tiep Hospital Results: Most of the samples were pleural fluid, accounting for 73.6%, pink fluid was the main color (46.2%), and the amount of fluid taken from each specimen was mostly from 201 - 250 ml (53.8%). Through CB, staining H&E, and immunohistochemistry, we identified 49 cancer cases, most of which were adenocarcinomas accounting for 87.8%. On the cell block technique, all adenocarcinoma samples have large cell nuclei, increased nucleus/cytoplasmic ratio, over 90% have glandular structure, over 80% of chromatin is crude, the nucleus is clear and there is space around the tumor. Conclusion: Comparing the results of cytology between CB and CS techniques shows that CB has a higher diagnostic value.