COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF LIQUID-BASED CYTOLOGY FOR BREAST LESIONS AND CONVENTIONAL SMEARS' DIAGNOSTIC ACCURACY

Abstract

Background: Utilising liquid-based cytology (LBC) extensively has become more common in recent years for the evaluation and assessment of both gynaecologic and non-gynaecologic tissues. The monolayer cell suspension makes a better morphological evaluation feasible. Moreover, LBC enables evaluation of nucleolar prominence, smaller or lost background material, fractured cell clusters, and smaller or lost cell size.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine if Liquid-Based Cytology is a more useful and effective method for assessing breast lesions than traditional smears, as well as whether it may be used in place of conventional preparation.
Methods: A total of 374 female individuals with palpable breast lesions underwent fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for this prospective clinical research. While the first pass was utilised for either an LBC or a standard smear, the second pass was administered. A number of parameters were employed to contrast the conventional smear with the representative LBC. Every criterion was scored individually, and then a statistical analysis was conducted.
Results: The analysis revealed that while there was a statistically significant difference in background blood-debris and informative background, there was a statistically non-significant difference in nuclear and cytoplasmic details, monolayer presence, cytoarchitectural pattern, and cellularity between LBS and conventional.
Conclusion: The current study finds that liquid-based cytology (LBC) can be a promising tool for the cytology sector. It has the potential to decrease the number of slides evaluated for each case and also to shorten turnaround times.