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%.
Conclusion: The findings of this study support the use of ThinPrep® 5000 system in the diagnosis of pleural and peritoneal samples.