Role of Sediment Cytology in the Early Diagnosis of Bone Lesions and Its Comparison with Histopathological Findings

BACKGROUND Though histopathology is the gold standard investigation for diagnosing most benign and malignant lesions of bone, the decalcification process required for removing bone hardness makes it a time-consuming process. Sediment cytology is a rapid investigative procedure utilising the cells in the specimen containers after proper fixation, processing and staining. The objective of this study was to compare the diagnostic efficacy of sediment cytology of bone lesions with the histopathology. METHODS The study was conducted in 50 samples of bony tissues received in the histopathology lab during the study time. The fixative fluid containing specimens were first agitated for procuring the cells from the sample. The sediment obtained was processed and stained as a cytology sample and studied under microscope. Based on cytology findings they were classified into benign, malignant, inflammatory and inconclusive. The specimen was processed as routine histopathologic sample and final diagnosis was made from it. RESULTS Sediment cytology of malignant bone lesions showed a very high specificity (100 %) but only a moderate sensitivity of 80 %. Sediment cytology of benign bone lesions also showed a higher specificity of 100 % but only a moderate sensitivity of 84.6 %. CONCLUSIONS If adequately cellular, biopsy sediment cytology is a simple, inexpensive, rapid tool for the early diagnosis of bone lesions. Sediment cytology can act as a good complementary test to histopathology. KEYWORDS Bone Lesions, Cytology, Sediment Cytology, Histopathology