BENIGN VERSUS MALIGNANT BODY EFFUSIONS ACYTOMORPHOLOGIC AND IMMUNOCYTOCHEMICAL STUDY

Abstract

Cytologic examination of serous fluid IS very important because the finding of cancer cells in such specimens denote that the patient had cancer that is not advanced but almost always incurable. The cytologic diagnosis of serous fluid can be difficult, especially m specimens containing abundant reactive mesothelial cells or few metastatic adenocrcinoma cells, in most cases , the diagnosis depend on routine cytologic techniques, however, application of another techniques especially immunocytochemistry is important to improve diagnostic sensitivity. The aim of this work was to evaluate the efficacy of the three markers CEA, EMA, & desmin in distinguishing reactive mesothelial cells from metastatic adenocarcinoma cells. EMA achieved high sensitivity (89.7%), and specificity (90.9%), while desmin showed high sensitivi.ty (89.7%), and moderate specificity (81.8%), on the other hand, CEA achieved low sensitivity (69.2%), and moderate specificity (81.8%). When the combined accuracy of the markers was calculated, it revealed that the panel of markers was highly sensitiv.: giving l 00% combined sensitivity, while it showed low combined specificity (63.6%).