The Effectiveness of the Liquid-Based Preparation Method in Cerebrospinal Fluid Cytology

<b><i>Objectives:</i></b> Since malignant cells were first detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), numerous methods have been used for CSF examination. The cytocentrifugation and liquid-based cytology (LBC) methods are two of these. We aimed to investigate whether the results from the LBC method were different from the results of the cytological diagnosis of the CSF materials that were prepared using the cytocentrifugation method. <b><i>Materials and Methods:</i></b> A retrospective analysis was conducted using the pathological records of 3,491 (cytocentrifugation on 1,306 and LBC on 2,185) cytological specimens of CSF which were diagnosed over a 4-year period between January 2007 and December 2011. The Fisher exact test was used to compare the results of the LBC and cytocentrifugation methods. <b><i>Results:</i></b> While there was a noticeable decrease in nondiagnostic diagnosis and a slight decrease in suspicious diagnosis, there was an increase in malignant and benign diagnosis with the LBC method in comparison to the centrifugation method. Statistically, the decrease in nondiagnostic diagnosis was considered significant (p < 0.0001). <b><i>Discussion: </i></b>The LBC method seems like a better option than the cytocentrifugation method, because of many preparatory, screening and diagnostic advantages, especially in pathology departments where materials come from far away and large volumes are examined.