Liquid-Based Cytology and Cell Block - Novel Techniques to Augment the Diagnosis

FNAB is a fast, cost effective, non-invasive tool for initial diagnostic planning of neoplastic diseases. Inadequate technical procedure may yield a low-quality smear, with artifacts such as thick smear, contamination, improper/delayed fixation, low cellularity, and cell disruption. This prevents adequate morphological analysis. liquid block cytology (LBC) and cell block (CB) can be used as adjunct techniques for cytological examination. LBC consists of immediate wet cell fixation with automated slide preparation, whereas CB is prepared from the residual cytological sample. LBC is helpful for studying cell details, whereas the evaluation of glandular architecture relies indirectly on the morphology of cell clumps. CB can maintain cell morphology and tissue architecture and thus could be a useful complementary diagnostic tool to FNAB for definitive diagnosis. The aim of this poster is to highlight the LBC and CB techniques as an adjunct diagnostic tool to FNAB. Keywords: Liquid Block Cytology (LBC), Cell Block (CB), FNAB, novel diagnostic techniques