Comparison of three methods for differential cell count in induced sputum.

Background: Induced sputum (IS) using the cytospin technique has been extensively employed to characterize inflammatory airway diseases; however, procedures of cell enrichment based on cytospin increase the analytical costs and require slide processing within a short period of time after sampling.

Study Objectives: To compare three different techniques for cytologic analysis of IS, and to determine the time required by each method and the costs involved.

Design: Cross-sectional study.