Exfoliative cytology of body fluids: A tertiary care study of jammu region

Introduction: The cytological analysis of serous effusions helps in diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic implications. The cytological interpretation of individual cells that are exfoliated into these fluids is of paramount importance since they provide an insight into the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic aspect of various pathological processes in the body. Cytological evaluation of fluids is a relatively simple, rapid, inexpensive and less invasive tool having a high accuracy with low incidence of false positive diagnosis. Method and Material: The study was conducted over a period of one year in the Department of Pathology. A total of 156 fluid cytology samples obtained from patients of various departments were analyzed. Results: A total of 156 cases were studied over a period of one year. Majority of the patients were in the 41 to 50 years of age group . Eighty-six cases were male which formed the majority. Among all fluids, peritoneal fluid comprised of maximum number of cases. On evaluation, a total of 12 cases were found to be malignant, of which 10 were encountered in peritoneal fluid whereas 02 were found in pleural fluids. Conclusion: Evaluation of body fluid is simple, safe and cost effective technique which helps the treating physician to reach a diagnosis and to understand the disease progression.