Abstract
In recent years, diagnostic imaging methods, such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and ultrasonography, have improved greatly and are now used to examine most internal organs. Recently, cytological diagnosis has been actively performed with diagnostic imaging, and treatment can often be started without diagnosis by excisional biopsy. However, few institutions perform rapid cytological diagnosis, and the usefulness of this rapid cytological diagnosis is not widely known. In our hospital, rapid cytological diagnosis has been performed routinely for 20 years. We perform rapid cytological diagnosis at the outpatient clinic, during operation, and even at autopsy, and have confirmed it to be useful. The main purpose of rapid cytological diagnosis at the outpatient clinic is to relieve patients from anxiety as soon as possible by providing early diagnosis and treatment. Rapid cytological diagnosis is often done for superficial sites, such as the breasts, thyroid glands, salivary glands, and lymph nodes. Intraoperative rapid cytological diagnosis has been performed to increase diagnostic accuracy. It is useful for body fluids, necrotic tissues, and small tissue samples that are not suitable for frozen section. Furthermore, if an infectious disease, such as tuberculosis, is suspected, an impression cytology specimen fixed in an alcohol solution is useful for biosafety. A rapid diagnosis at autopsy is important to inform the bereaved family about the cause of death and to ensure an accurate death certificate. Moreover, it is significant to diagnose by impression cytology for biosafety. Furthermore, we discuss about the usefulness of a rapid immunostaining method which is actively performed in our department for a rapid cytological diagnosis.
