Background:Tumors of the central nervous system in the pediatric age group occur relatively frequently during the early years of life. Brain tumors are the most common solid malignancies of childhood and only second to acute childhood leukemia. Squash cytology is an indispensable diagnostic aid to central nervous system (CNS) lesions. The definitive diagnosis of brain lesions is confirmed by histological examination.Aim:To study the cytology of CNS lesions in pediatric population and correlate it with histopathology.Materials and Methods:One hundred and fifty cases of CNS lesions in pediatric patients were studied over a period of 2 years. Intraoperative squash smears were prepared, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined. Remaining sample was subjected to histopathological examination.Results:Medulloblastoma (24.0%) was the most frequently encountered tumor followed by pilocyctic astrocytoma (21.33%) and ependymoma (13.33%). Diagnostic accuracy of squash smear technique was 94.67% when compared with histological diagnosis.Conclusion:Smear cytology is a fairly accurate tool for intraoperative CNS consultations.
Background:Intraoperative squash smear cytology is a simple and reliable technique for rapid intraoperative diagnosis of neurosurgical specimens. The study was designed to assess the accuracy of intraoperative squash smear in the diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) space-occupying lesions.Materials and Methods:One hundred and fifty cases of CNS space-occupying lesion were studied in a period of 15 months. Smears were prepared from the biopsy sample obtained at the time of operation and were stained with rapid hematoxylin and eosin method.Results:One hundred and forty-one cases showed complete correlation with histopathology, two cases showed partial correlation, and seven cases were discrepant. The overall diagnostic accuracy was found to be 94%.Conclusion:Intraoperative squash smear thus provides diagnosis with fair accuracy in brain tumors and is of great value in intraoperative consultation.
Introduction: Telecytology is the practice of cytology at a distance. The images captured by a camera are sent to the cytopathologist at a different location who views the images and reaches a diagnosis. Recently, smartphone-assisted telepathology has been evaluated for different subspecialities of pathology including cytology for second opinion. Materials and Methods: For the purpose of the study, a total of 151 cases of fine needle aspiration and 10 cases of urine cytology reported by a single pathologist were retrieved from the records. The images of all the cases were captured by a trained pathologist using the primary camera of a smartphone from the ocular of a binocular microscope. The images were sent by WhatsApp to the same pathologist who had made the conventional microscopy diagnosis. The images were viewed on the smartphone screen by the pathologist who replied with the diagnosis after analysing all the images with or without digital zoom. Results: A total of 154 cases out of 161 were correctly diagnosed on smartphone-assisted tele-pathology (overall intraobserver concordance of 95.6%). For head and neck swellings, the concordance was 65/70 (92.9%), for breast lesions, it was 23/24 (95.8%), and for miscellaneous swellings, it was 57/57 (100%). For urine cytology, the concordance rate was 9/10 (90%). Conclusion: Though the results of this study are encouraging, further improvement in the smartphone camera resolution and internet connectivity would enhance the utility of smartphone-assisted telecytopathology.
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