Role of crush smear cytology in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancy.

Crush smear cytology, commonly used for central nervous system lesions was reported to be useful in the diagnosis of GI malignancies. This study was designed to see the accuracy of crush smear cytology in detection of gastrointestinal malignancy in relation to histopathological examination. First 4 or 5 bits of pinch biopsy specimens from each of the consecutive patients having endoscopic findings suggestive of carcinoma of gastro-intestinal tract were examined by conventional paraffin embedding and H-E staining by a cytologist. Crush smears stained with Papanicolaou's stain were prepared with the last bit of specimen and were examined by another cytologist. The diagnostic accuracy was examined by correlating with clinical and histological data. Out of 100 cases of suspected oesophageal malignancies, 99…