Immunocytochemistry examination in diagnosing meningeal carcinomatosis

Objective To increase the sensitivity of cytologic detection of malignant neoplasms in cerebrospinal fluid(CSF).Methods All 21 CSF specimens from 13 patients with definitive meningeal carcinomatosis were tested by routine cytologic and immunocytochemical examinations,respectively.The positive rates of these two examinations were compared.Results The initial positive of routine CSF cytology was 4 cases,and both the initial positive of immunocytochemistry for anti-carcinoembryonic antigen(CEA) and anti-epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) were 10 cases.There was significant difference between the positive rate of routine CSF cytology and the positive rate of immunocytochemistry for anti-CEA(P0.05),but there was no significant difference between the positive rate of routine CSF cytology and the positive rate of immunocytochemistry for anti-EMA(P0.05) after statistic analysis.The total positive rate of routine CSF cytology was 42.86%(9/21) and the total positive rate of immunocytochemistry for anti-CEA was 80.95%(17/21).There was a significant difference between the two rates(P0.05).The total positive rate of immunocytochemistry for anti-EMA was 85.71%(18/21),and also there was a significant difference between the positive rate of immunocytochemistry for anti-EMA and the positive rate of routine CSF cytology(P0.01).Conclusion The sensitivity of immunocytochemical examination was superior to that of the routine cerebrospinal fluid cytologic examination in diagnosing the meningeal carcinomatosis.