Is the International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology (ISRSFC) applicable for reporting pericardial effusion cytology?
The ISRSFC is an applicable reporting system for pericardial effusions, highlighting that most are benign and that the absence of mesothelial cells does not preclude specimen adequacy.
The ISRSFC is a user-friendly reporting system which is easily applicable on serous fluid including PF. The vast majority of PEs was benign (84.3%). Our study shows that the presence of mesothelial cells is not necessary for specimen adequacy in serous effusions as no mesothelial cells were identified in 38% of the negative cases. Metastatic lung carcinoma was the most common diagnosis of malignant effusions.
Rodriguez et al. (Wed,) studied this question.