Cytology Flashcards
advantages of cytology
quick, easy, inexpensive, minimal risk as no anaesthesia, a screening tool
what samples can be used for cytology?
- fluid ( body cavity, joints, resp tract , CSF)
- aspirations (fine needle biopsy, fine needle aspiration)
- imprints (fresh cut, dry surface)
What is the difference between a fine need biopsy and a fine needle aspirate?
fine needle aspirate under negative pressure - only do it fine needles biopsy doesnt work
What is needed for a good smear?
- cells spread out
- cells intact
- nuclear material intact
- thin areas ( 1 cell thick)
- minimise blood content
How is a smear categorised?
- inflammatory - septic vs non septic
- neoplastic - round cell, epithelial, spindle cell - benign vs malignant
How to determine if sample is inflammatory or neoplastic?
infl . - neutrophils, eosinophils, lymphocytes and marcrophages present
neoplastic - tissue cells
How to determine if an inflammatory sample is septic or not?
septic - degenerate neutrophils, intracellular bacteria (neutrophils)
non septic - normal neutrophils, no intracellular bacteria
How to differentiate in a neoplastic sample between round cells, epithelial or spindle cells?
round cells - individual, small to medium, round to oval, well defined cells and lots of them
epithelial - sheets/rafts/clusters or large, oval to angular cells with cell -to - cell junctions, round central nuclei, abundant cytoplasm and get a good yield
mesencymal / spindle - individual / clumps , small to medium, spindle shaped, indistinct cell border, elongated nucleus, poor yield
Nuclear criteria of malignancy? ( 3 needed to be malignant)
- anisocytosis (variation in cell size)
- cell crowding
- anisokaryosis (variation in nuclear size)
- multinucleation or odd number of nuclei
- macrokaryosis (giant nuclei)
- high nuclear : cytoplasmic ratio
- increased / abnormal mitotic figures
- coarse chromatin
- nuclear moulding
- macronucleoli
