2018 Volume 67 Issue 2 Pages 178-183
In our facility, we deal with spcimens immersed in a preservative liquid containing 50% alcohol, some of these specimens contain many blood components. In liquid-based cytology centrifugation, a macroscopically visible layer of nucleated cells, i.e., the buffy coat, is formed on the upper part of the sediment. This nucleated cell layer is the focus of cytological examination. However, after the addition of a preservative liquid to the specimens, the nucleated cell layer formed becomes unclear, and gross observation is difficult. It is necessary to confirm the validity of sampling because it is possible that a test result could be a false negative. Therefore, to find an effective sampling method, a cell block was prepared to investigate how the cells were distributed in the sediments of 15 specimens where the nucleated cell layer was unclear. As a result, we recognized that nucleated cells were mostly distributed in the lower part of the sediment of a specimen to which a preservative liquid was added, and malignant cell clusters tended to concentrate in the lower layer. In this study, we verified the effectiveness of taking samples from the lower part of the sediment for cytological examination of specimens to which a preservative liquid was added. We used the preservative liquid containing approximately 50% alcohol, but there are various types of preservatives, and we think that it is important to understand the fixation actions and hemolysis ability of preservatives used for specimens.
