Title: Accuracy of intra-operative imprint cytology in breast tumours and lymph node swellings: Can it be a useful alternate to Frozen section
Authors: Dr Ravindran Chirukandath, Dr Venita Juliet Noronha, Dr Remani.K, Dr Sarath Krishnan
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v7i6.83
Abstract
Background: In the present clinical scenario, breast lumps and lymph nodes swellings are one of the most common pathologies we deal with in our surgical outpatients. With the present increasing rate of malignancies, even benign and innocent looking lumps must be treated with suspicion and care. And hence we need an investigative procedure which is accurate, simple and less time consuming and cost effective. Imprint cytology is a good procedure to assess the diagnosis of lesions and is comparable to the final histopathology report(1). It is indeed helpful to avoid a second surgery in cases where a wide excision is required because the report comes within 10-15 minutes. This in turn helps surgeons to plan further treatment
To know the accuracy of imprint smears in breast and lymph nodes in diagnosing lesions this study was conducted and to statistically compare with routine histopathology in order to assess sensitivity and specificity of imprint diagnosis and Compare statistically it with routine histopathology tests to know sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value.
160 patients from Govt. Medical College, Thrissur, Kerala, India with breast lumps & lymphadenitis requiring excision biopsy were included in the study .It was found that In diagnosis of breast Tumours the Result of intra-operative imprint cytology had a Sensitivity = 95.60%; Specificity = 100%; Predictive value - +ve100% & -ve 97% in Breast lumps .In diagnosis of Lymph Node Lesions the Predictive value for metastatic carcinoma Sensitivity = 100%; Specificity = 100%; Predictive value - +ve 100% & -ve 100% and Predictive value for metastatic carcinoma with a Sensitivity = 77.7%; Specificity = 100%; Predictive value - +ve 100% & -ve 91.3%.Further research in this field is planned to understand the efficacy To assess the accuracy of imprint cytology in evaluating lumpectomy margins.
Keywords: Intra-operative Imprint Cytology.
