Comparison of ThinPrep® and Conventional Preparations for Peritoneal and Pleural Cytology Smears

Aims: To compare the performance of ThinPrep 5000 processor with the conventional method of preparing pleural and peritoneal smears as well as to study the possibility of replacement of the conventional method with ThinPrep 5000 system. Methodology: Forty-one samples of serous fluid comprising 17 pleural fluids and 24 peritoneal fluids, were analyzed. Smears were prepared using ThinPrep 5000 and conventional methods. All the slides were stained by the Pap method. Results: 98% of all cases showed monolayer architecture with minimal overlapping using ThinPrep 5000 method. However, 73% of cells, prepared by conventional method, were either crowded, overlapped or both. In addition, the cytomorphology of cells prepared by ThinPrep 5000 method was better preserved (61%) than those with conventional method (41%). However, conventional smears were cellular in 73% of the cases whereas with ThinPrep 5000 method, high cellularity was only seen in 2%.