COMPARATIVE STUDY OF IMPRINT CYTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY IN DIFFERENTIATING BENIGN AND MALIGNANT TUMOURS OF THE BREAST IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL
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Keywords
Imprint cytology; breast neoplasm; diagnostic accuracy; sensitivity.
Abstract
Globally, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women; however, it is also a significant growing burden on the health systems of developing countries. Histopathology remains the gold standard for diagnosing all malignancies, including breast cancers. However, it is not a useful intraoperative diagnostic tool. Imprint cytology is a rapid as well as an inexpensive way to obtain a definitive diagnosis using minimal laboratory facilities. This study will compare the diagnostic accuracy of imprint cytology to histopathology in determining whether breast tumours are benign or malignant.
Materials and Methods:
This study was a hospital-based prospective comparative study performed at the Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, India over a period of twelve months (May 2025 – April 2026). A total of thirty surgically excised breast specimens that met the study's entry criteria were enrolled in this study. The histopathological diagnoses were used as the gold standard to determine the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), overall diagnostic accuracy, and kappa coefficient of imprint cytology.
Results:
For the thirty specimens, there were a total of nineteen benign (benign breast disease) specimens and eleven malignant (untreated breast cancer) specimens. Imprint cytology had a sensitivity of 90.9%, a specificity of 100.0%, a PPV of 100.0%, an NPV of 95.0% and an overall diagnostic accuracy of 96.7%. The kappa value (0.91) indicates that there was nearly perfect agreement between the two methods.
Conclusion:
Imprint cytology had excellent accuracy in distinguishing benign from malignant breast tumours. Invasive lobular carcinoma was the most difficult diagnosis to make. It was concluded that imprint cytology should be routinely used as an adjunct to histopathology to make intraoperative diagnoses, especially where cryostat facilities are unavailable.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JPTCP are licensed under Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Dr. Bargavi B
Post Graduate, Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
Dr. Pavithra R
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
Dr. Prakashiny
Professor, Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
Dr. Jesu Magdalene
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
Dr. Ragashree V
Post Graduate, Department of Pathology, ACS Medical College and Hospital, Dr.MGR Educational and Research Institute (Deemed to be University),
