Comparison of the Exfoliative Cytology and Histopathology in Cancer Diagnosis

Considering the progressive frequency of malignancies and the importance of rapid and non-invasive diagnosis of neoplasms, this study was conducted to compare the exfoliative cytology and histopathology in neoplasms diagnosis. In this process-evaluation study, all of the 92 samples that were sent to pathology laboratory were selected sequentially. Diagnosis was determined using two methods of exfoliative cytology and histopathology. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy were calculated. 9 samples showed false negative, 0 showed false positive, 0 true negative and 83 samples showed true positive. Therefore sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and accuracy of exfoliative cytology method were 90%, 0%, 100%, 0% and 90%, respectively. Considering the results of this study and comparing them with that of other studies, it seems that exfoliative cytology method has high sensitivity proportional to its specificity, and it can be a suitable method when we encounter with undesired artifactual or degenerative changes in biopsy specimen.