Authors: P Tejaswi, K Shirisha, Ashok Kumar D
Background: Intra operative cytology is an important diagnostic modality especially central nervous system tumors. Squash smears most widely used cytological technique is rapid, accurate and relatively uses little tissue. It also helps the surgeon to plan the extent of surgery. Aim: To assess the accuracy of squash smear by comparing with the histopathological diagnosis. Materials and Methods: A study of 52 cases at our institute. Complete clinical, demographic and radiological findings were recorded. The smears were stained by rapid haematoxylin and eosin and toluidine blue stain. The cytomorphological features were studied and were compared with the tissue sections. Results: Glial tumors formed the largest category of tumors constitutes 40.3%. A total 47 cases showed complete concordance with histodiagnosis with a diagnostic accuracy of 95.9%. Conclusion: Squash smear cytology proved to be a simple, inexpensive, rapid intraoperative neuropathological technique particularly useful in astrocytomas. Keywords: CNS tumors, Intraoperative diagnosis, Squash cytology.
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