Cytopathology laboratory service – FNAC and PAP

Cytolopathology is another type of service available in/provided by our Department. By reporting on these various types of cytology samples which can be obtained easily, quickly and inexpensively we provide valuable information to the clinician.

We report on two types of cytology samples namely, fine needle aspirations cytology and exfoliative cytology samples.

For fine needle aspiration the patients are referred from the professorial units of the Colombo North teaching hospital and this test is performed at the Department of Pathology. This is a test that can be performed for any lesion that is palpable. Breast and thyroid lesions are most frequently requested for this procedure. Other sites include lymph nodes, salivary glands and various accessible lumps. Prior patient preparation is not needed. With the use of a 23 G needle and a 10cc syringe a cytology sample is obtained from the lesion. Slides are prepared from the samples obtained, kept in a fixative and stained with routine haematoxylin and eosin stains. Routine reports are sent to the clinic/ward within 2 weeks. Urgent reports can be issued within two hour.

The exfoliative cytology samples are sent from the professorial unit. These samples are obtained into plain bottles and are transported to the pathology laboratory as soon as possible to avoid degenerative changes that could result in interpretation difficulties.The commonly received samples are body fluid (peritoneal and pleural fluid) ,urine, sputum and cerebrospinal fluid. The sediment obtained from the cyto-centrifuged fluid sample is used for preparation of smears. These smears are also stained with Haematoxylin and eosin.

Cervical smears examination as a screening for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia is another type of cytology service provided by our Department. We receive the unstained, prepared cervical smears form the Well woman clinic of the CNTH. Papanicoulaeu staining is used for these cervical smears.

Annually we perform and report approximatedly 600 Fine needle aspiration samples, report 400 cervical smears and 200 fluid samples. The reports are sent either to the clinic or to the ward from which the samples are received.