Assessment by Mair Scoring System for the Cytodiagnostic Preparations of Conventional Centrifuge and Cytospin for Body Fluids

Abstract

Background: The quality of preparation forms the foundation of diagnostic sensitivity of body fluids. The preparations of conventional centrifuge (CC) and cytospin (CS) are qualitatively different when stained for diagnostic microscopy. The Mair scoring system is the one that determines the overall quality of cytologic preparations at diagnostic interpretations.

Objectives: the present study is carried out with the objectives to compare the diagnostic cell yield and efficacy of CC and CS by Mair scoring system.

Material and Methods: The 120 preparations of 60 samples each run for CC and CS of 30 samples each of pleural and peritoneal fluids. The preparations were assessed by Mair scoring system upon the stains of Papanicolaou and Giemsa of these cytologic preparations. Chi² test was applied for comparison.

Results: The mean scores for CC for pleural fluids for the feature of background was 1 ± 0.83, 0.97 ± 0.85 for cellularity, 1.03 ± 0.85 for morphology and 1 ± 0.74 for distribution; and 1.03 ± 0.81 for background, 1.1 ± 0.80 for cellularity, 0.93 ± 0.83 for morphology and 1.1 ± 0.76 for distribution for peritoneal fluid. Pleural fluid sample mean scores were 1.3 ± 0.70 for background, 1.17 ± 0.79 for cellularity, 1.2 ± 0.76 for morphology and 1.73 ± 0.52 for distribution for CS preparations; and 1.16 ± 0.79 for background, 1.2 ± 0.76 for cellularity, 1.07 ± 0.78 for morphology and 1.13 ± 0.82 for distribution for peritoneal fluid. The CS preparations worked well as compared to CC method for the parameters of background and distribution in pleural fluid samples, and background and morphology in peritoneal fluid samples with significant p-values (<0.01).

Conclusion: The Mair scoring system appears to be ideal scoring system for comparisons of qualitative parameters between the two methods of cytologic preparations. The CS appears to be more sensitive for diagnostic yield than CC over the body fluid preparations with increased diagnostic sensitivity.