Cytomorphological study of body fluids- An attempt to know its role in diagnosis

Abstract

Introduction: Body fluid cytology is a routinely performed procedure. It is simple, cost-effective and acts as a first-line investigation in the evaluation of effusions. The inflow and outflow of fluid in the potential spaces of pleural, peritoneal and pericardial cavities is governed by starling forces. In case of tumors, study of effusion cytology helps in the diagnosis and staging process.
Aim: To study cytomorphology of various body fluids and know their role in diagnosis.
Materials and Methods: The present study is a retrospective descriptive study of 100 cases of various body fluids such as pleural, peritoneal, cerebrospinal and synovial fluids which were received in the department of pathology, at a tertiary care center from July 2019 to December 2020.Data was retrieved from records maintained in the department of pathology. Slides were reviewed if considered necessary. In cases positive for malignancy, histopathology records were checked for correlation.
Results: 100 fluids were studied. Age group varied between 10 days and 90 years. Maximum number of cases was in the range of 41 to 50 years with 23 cases (23%).
Results: Most common fluid was pleural fluid (46%), followed by ascitic fluid(41%), CSF (7%) and synovial fluid (6%).
Conclusion: From our study, we could conclude that cytological evaluation of body fluids plays an important role in initial screening for presence of acute and chronic inflammatory cells, tumor cells. It also helps in staging of tumors where the presence of tumor cells increases the stage of tumor.