Carbowax fixation of needle aspirates

Standardization of fine needle aspiration cytology of the breast -- comparison of Auto Cyto Fix and conventional smears

In Japan, there are some problems with fine needle aspiration (FNA) cytology of the breast, such as insufficient smeared cells, air-drying artefact and excessive erythrocytes. Liquid-based cytology has been found to solve these problems. Equipment for such preparations has been developed, but can be expensive to purchase and operate. We developed Auto Cyto Fix 1000 (ACF), which is inexpensive and automatically smears and fixes cells. The purpose of this study was to compare the various cytological features of conventional and ACF specimens. We evaluated whether the ACF method would be able to replace the conventional method. Forty-eight FNA specimens of breast were studied. All specimens were prepared by the direct smeared (DS) and ACF methods and evaluated for unsatisfactory cell collection, air-drying artefacts, background findings and epithelial cell findings. Although ACF specimens were prepared using the cells remaining in the needle and syringe after preparing DS specimens, the cellularity of two of the ACF specimens was better than that of the corresponding DS specimens. ACF specimens never showed air-drying artefact. Unlike DS specimens, which have many erythrocytes in the background, erythrocytes were filtered out and the background of ACF specimens was clean. We believe that many problems attributable to conventional FNA specimen preparation have been solved in this study. Preparation using the ACF apparatus can reduce running costs and can be used to prepare FNA specimens of the breast for cytological examination as an alternative to the conventional method.

Semiquantitative analysis of the cellular preservation quality of Normosol and Carbowax solutions for thyroid fine-needle aspiration specimens

The present study was designed to compare cytomorphologic features and diagnostic value of thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) specimens stored in Saccomano's (Carbowax(R) solution) fixative and Normosol(R) solutions. Equivalent amounts of aspirate material obtained from nonlesional areas of 17 freshly resected thyroidectomy specimens were placed in room temperature Carbowax(R) solution and refrigerated Normosol(R) solution for a time period of up to 60 hr. Millipore(R) filter preparations were made from both fluids for each of the 17 thyroidectomy specimens. Slides were examined by three independent observers who rated the quality of cellular preservation based on a four-part semiquantitative scale. Statistical analysis of the data obtained from the scores of the three observers showed no statistically significant difference in the quality of specimen preservation. Normosol(R) preserved specimens consistently rated superior to Carbowax(R) in nuclear detail, lack of obscuring background artifact, and diagnostic value. These findings, along with a considerably less cost, make refrigerated Normosol(R) an attractive alternative for the short-term storage of FNA specimens placed in fluid.