A diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma can be made by effusion cytology: results of a 20 year audit.

Aims: Cytological diagnosis of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is controversial, but has been used in our institution for over 30 years. To assess the role of effusion cytology in mesothelioma diagnosis we conducted an audit of pleural fluid cytology results over a 20 year period (1988-2007).

Methods: Pleural samples were received from 6285 patients; data linkage with Western Australian Cancer and Mesothelioma Registries demonstrated that 815 of these patients had a diagnosis of MPM.