The role of cytology in gastrointestinal system lesions

Endoscopic biopsies, brush and imprint cytology are very commonly used in the lesions of gastrointestinal system. In this study , the diagnosis issued on cytological and histological materials from 162 patients were compared between 1997-1998 in Uludağ University Medical School Gastroenterology Department. The role of cytology was investigated in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal system lesions.

114 of the cases were male and 45 were female. The ages ranged between 20 and 85. Thirtyeight of 149 materials were obtained from esophagus, 93 were stomach, 31 were colon-rectum. Cytological diagnosis were malignant in 77 cases, suspicious in 10 and benign in 75. In this study , when the lesions were classified as benign and malignant, 76 cases were true positive and 85 were true negative, and one case was false positive. The false positive case was given "malignant" diagnosis cytologically, and histological examination revealed "tubular adenoma with moderate dysplasia". There were no false negative cases.

These data revealed prevelance of malignancy rate of 46 % , 100 % sensitivity, 98.8 specifity, 1 % of negative predictive value, 98 % positive predictivity and 100 % negative predictivity , 99.3 % accuracy rate.