Role of imprint cytology in thoracic endoscopy suite

Abstract

Background Fiberoptic bronchoscopy and medical thoracoscopy are basic interventional modalities for the diagnosis of a wide variety of pleuropulmonary diseases. In some cases, we need fast and accurate results for decision-making. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of imprint cytology and its added value to the pulmonologist. Results Multiple biopsies were taken from 54 patients included 31 patients with lung masses subjected to fiberoptic bronchoscopy and 23 patients with undiagnosed exudative pleural effusion subjected to medical thoracoscopy. Imprint cytology was done to all biopsies which are later examined histopathologically. Regarding fiberoptic bronchoscopy biopsies, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of imprint cytology were 93.33, 100, 100, 33.33, and 93.55%, respectively. While in medical thoracoscopy biopsies, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy of imprint cytology were 94.74, 100, 100, 80, and 95.65%, respectively. Conclusion Imprint cytology is an easy, rapid, and reliable method that has a high sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of lung and pleural malignancies compared with histopathology.