Diagnostic utility of toluidine blue-stained diagnostic utility of toluidine blue-stained wet films in bronchial lavage cytology.

Unlabelled: To investigate the effectiveness oftoluidine blue-stained wet films in preliminary cytologic evaluation of bronchial washings.

Study Design: Bronchial washings were obtained by flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy from 179 patients with suspected bronchial carcinoma. Each sample was evaluated with toluidine blue-stained wet films as benign, suspicious or malignant, and the diagnoses were compared to results of conventional smears and cell blocks. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of wet films were determined.

Results: Of 179 samples, toluidine blue stains from 18 samples were classified as malignant, 4 samples as suspicious and 157 samples as benign. The sensitivity of the wet films was 83.3%, specificity was 98.7%, positive predictive value was 90.9% and negative predictive value was 97.5%.

Conclusion: Initial cytologic evaluation of bronchial washings with toluidine blue-stained wet films is simple, fast and inexpensive. Moreover, it provides guidance for additional procedures for the definitive diagnosis.