Role of Cell Block in Diagnostics-A New Paradigm in Cancer Diagnosis

Abstract

Major limitation of the conventional FNA smear is the limited material availability for adjuvant diagnostic investigations including Immunocytochemistry. The cell block technique may aid in overcoming this limitation. Cell-block preparations made from sedimented cells can be useful adjunct to the routine cytological methods used for pleural and peritoneal fluids. There are only few studies evaluating its diagnostic efficacy and additional benefits when used with routine cytology. This study was conducted to compare the diagnostic efficacy parameters of cell-blocks and routine cytological smears of fluids and fine needle aspirate in suspected cases of malignancy. Use of cell-blocks as an adjunct to routine cytology smears of body fluids can increase the sensitivity to a considerable extent. It is of further use in pin-pointing a diagnosis by pattern recognition or immunohistochemistry. Cell blocks should be considered in all fine-needle aspiration specimens whenever possible and in selective cases of exfoliative cytology specimens after review of the smears to increase the diagnostic yield.