Usefulness of Brushing Cytology in the Diagnosis of the Patients with the Stricture of Biliary Tree

Park, Mi Ok

Abstract

Pancreaticobiliary tract strictures are frequent indications for endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography(ERCP). We have investigated the brushing cytology in order to determine its efficacy for diagnosis of pancreaticobiliary malignancies. Brushing cytology during ERCP was evaluated in 56 patients with biliary tract stricture presenting to the Catholic Hospital of Taegu-Hyosung from April 1997 to August 1999. A comparison was made between the cytologic and histologic diagnoses on 32 cases from 30 patients. A diagnosis of malignancy was establishied in 78.1%, benign in 15.6%, and inadequate in 6.3% of the cases. Statistical data on cytologic diagnoses in strictures of the bile duct were as follows; specificity and sensitivity of brushing procedure was 100% & 83.3%, respectively: sensitivity of interpretation was 89.3%: with no false positive cases and 3 false negative cases: predictive value for malignancy was 100% & 100%, respectively: predictive value for benign was 28.6% & 40%, respectively: overall diagnostic efficiency was 84.4%. It is concluded that brush cytology is a diagnostically reliable, highly specific technique for malignant lesions encounted at ERCP, although a negative result does not rule out the diagnosis of malignancy.