Comparative Study of Gastric Wash Cytology and Gastric Biopsy in Various Gastric Malignancies

IntroductIon: Gastric cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer mortality worldwide including Nepal too. According to World Health Organization (WHO) Helicobacter pylori (H. Pylori) has been shown to induce the development of adenocarcinomas. Histological confirmation of stomach cancer or the presence of H. pylori infection on tissue sample is still considered the gold standard. Methods: This was a prospective observational study conducted in 36 patients with suspicious lesion on endoscopy and gastric wash cytology and biopsy were taken simultaneously in the same sitting within a time span of one year at Bir Hospital. The location, morphological type of the lesion and association of H. pylori was looked for in all the cases. results: Cytological smears were positive for 9 cases (25%) and helicobacter pylori positive was seen in 10 cases (27.78%) in gastric biopsies. Males were predominant with 24 cases (66.67%) and the most common age was sixth and seventh decades with 9 cases (25%) each. Most of the gastric cancers were adenocarcinomas in 33 cases (91.67%) followed by 2 cases (5.55%) of lymphoma and one case (2.78%) of signet ring carcinoma. conclusIon: Gastric cancer is the third most common cause of cancer mortality worldwide behind only lung and breast cancer. The wash cytology preceding gastric biopsy yield poor results and if gastric cytology is to be good modality for diagnosing gastric malignancy it would have to be augmented by brush and aspiration techniques as well.