Mycobacterium tuberculosis diagnosed promptly by bronchial brushing cytology in an immunocompetent patient

Analysis of laryngeal brush cytology results in patients of the 4th Military Teaching Hospital with Polyclinic in Wrocław in 2019–2020

Introduction: Cytological examination of exfoliated epithelial cells of the cervix, oral cavity or anus has been successfully used for years in the diagnosis of diseases of these organs. In these cases, test samples are taken from accessible areas. Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse cytological smears of the laryngeal epithelium in patients hospitalised in the Clinic of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery of the 4th Military Teaching Hospital with Polyclinic in Wrocław in 2019–2020. The analysis was to determine if representative test samples could be obtained from the laryngeal epithelium. Material and methods: The study was performed on 92 patients, including 34 females (37.0%), aged between 26 and 85 years, who, while undergoing laryngeal microsurgery with a Kleinsasser lanryngoscope in 2019–2020, had test samples collected for cytological examination. Results: Ninety of 92 cytological smears (97.8%) were analysed. The examinations that were not included in the analysis were unclear. The smears were assessed according to a scale based on the modification of the Bethesda scale. The result of the cytological examination was more often abnormal. Among the abnormal examination results, HSIL with features of invasion was the most common. Conclusions: Cytological examination can successfully evaluate laryngeal epithelial cells. An abnormal laryngeal cytology smear is often hypercellular; however, it rarely shows inflammatory cells. There was no statistically significant relationship between the cytological examination result and overall smear quality, cell count, erythrocyte count or degree of inflammation. Keywords: brush cytology, cytological smear, intraepithelial neoplasia, laryngeal brush cytology List of abbreviations: FI-normal cytology result, LSIL-low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, HSIL-high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion, ASCUS-abnormal squamous cells of undetermined significance, WWP-squamous epithelium