Spritzer: For diagnostic cytopathology.

BACKGROUND: Exfoliative cytology is an easy, economical, noninvasive, and feasible method for early detection and screening program of any premalignant or malignant lesion. In case of routine cytological procedure, classical Papanicolaou (PAP) stain is widely used while Romanowsky stains are sparingly used. Leishman-Giemsa (LG) cocktail, being a easier, cost effective staining technique, has not been used in exfoliative cytology. Therefore, this pilot study was carried out to compare and contrast the role of LG stain in routine cytological procedure which is very cost-effective, less time-consuming and requires less infrastructural support.

AIM AND OBJECTIVES: To study the diagnostic efficiency of LG cocktail in comparison with PAP stain and Feulgen stain in mucosal cells for evaluating cellular changes of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three cytological smears were prepared from 10 healthy controls and 10 patients clinically diagnosed with OSCC, and they were stained with LG cocktail stain, PAP stain, and Feulgen stain. The stained smears were evaluated for cytologic diagnosis and the staining characteristics such as nuclear and cytoplasmic details were recorded as per criteria by Sujathan et al.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were statistically evaluated with analysis of variance test using SPSS 15 software for windows.

RESULTS: The results from the cases diagnosed as OSCC by PAP and LG cocktail were almost identical and superior to Feulgen stain both in diagnostic ability and in staining characteristics.

CONCLUSION: The one-step LG cocktail is easy, very cost-effective, less time-consuming with less infrastructural support as compared to PAP stain; however, it warrants further evaluation for screening of oral cancer as a potential aid.