BACKGROUNDPathology is the "gold standard" of the diagnosis of lung cancer, but at present there are few articles about evaluating the value of cytopathological check. The aim of this study is to evaluate the value of cytopathological check in the diagnosis of primary bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung.

METHODSA total of 552 samples' cytopathological results of 248 patients from January 2003 to May 2005 in this hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The samples included pleural fluids (110 for 68 patients), materials from lung puncture (33 for 31 patients), smears of transcatheter bronchial brushing (152 for 138 patients), bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (30 for 26 patients) and sputa (227 for 118 patients).

RESULTSThe positive results of different specimens were as follow: the pleural fluids was 69.12%, the materials from lung puncture 67.74%, the smears of transcatheter bronchial brushing 65.22%, the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids 23.08% and sputa 21.19% respectively. The positive rates of the pleural fluids, the materials from lung puncture and the smears of transcatheter bronchial brushing were higher than that of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids and sputa (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference among the positive rates of the pleural fluids, the materials from lung puncture and the smears of transcatheter bronchial brushing, and between the positive rates of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluids and sputa (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe cytopathological examination is helpful for the diagnosis of primary bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung, and is one of the important ways to the diagnosis of primary bronchogenic carcinoma of the lung.