Turkish Neurosurgery 2013 , Vol 23 , Num 2
The Value of Touch Imprint Cytology of Core Needle Biopsy in the Diagnosis of Spinal Lesions
Irem ONUR PAKER1, Murat SEZAK2, Basak DOGANAVSARGIL2, Mehmet ZILELI3, Fikri OZTOP2
1Ankara Diskapi Yildirim Beyazit Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pathology, Ankara, Turkey
2Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Izmir, Turkey
3Ege University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Izmir, Turkey
DOI : 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.6357-12.0 AIM: We aimed to investigate the contribution of the touch imprint cytology (TIC) of core needle biopsies (CNBs) to the diagnosis in spinal lesions.

MATERIAL and METHODS: Sixty cases with spinal CNB and TIC were included in the study. Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and May-Grunwald- Giemsa (MGG) stained TIC slides and CNB of each case were blindly reevaluated by two pathologists. TIC and CNB findings were categorized as follows: 1-Nondiagnostic 2- Benign nonneoplastic 3- Benign neoplastic 4- Malignant 5-Malignant lesions that can be typed.

RESULTS: TIC and CNBs were nondiagnostic in 62% and 45% of all cases, respectively. Malignancy could be identified and typed in 23% of imprint preparations and 35% of CNBs. When TIC and CNB diagnosis were compared, it was seen that diagnostic categories were just the same in 70% of the cases. In 37% of the cases benign and malignant groups could be distinguished. In 20% of the cases diagnostic categories were totally different.

CONCLUSION: The percentage of the nondiagnostic material in CNBs can reach up to 45%. The findings in TIC and CNBs were compatible with each other. We observed that TIC was diagnostic on its own especially in carcinoma metastasis and contributed to the assessement of cytologic detail in hematologic malignancies. Keywords : Imprint, Core needle biopsy, Cytology, Spine

Corresponding author : Irem Onur Paker, iremonur@yahoo.com