AgNOR STAINING IN MALIGNANT AND BENIGN EFFUSIONS

Objective: To evaluate the correlation of argyrophilic nucleolar regions(AgNORs) and malignancy in benign and malignant effusions. Design: The study group consisted of pleural and peritoneal effusion samples obtained from patients suffering from various benign or malignant diseases. The cytological smears were studied by conventional haematoxylin & eosin(H&E) and silver staining for AgNORs. Setting: The samples were obtained from patients admitted in Mayo Hospital, Services Hospital, Gulab Devi Chest Hospital and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (INMOL). Subjects: One hundred cases having either pleural or peritoneal effusions were selected. Fifty of these cases were positive for malignant cells and fifty had reactive mesothelial cells in them. Main Outcome Measures: Assessment of AgNOR count as a diagnostic marker of malignancy. Results: AgNOR count was helpful in differentiating benign from malignant cells. AgNOR count in malignant cells was 10.62 ± 3.36 and 3.04 ± 0.64 in reactive mesothelial cells. Conclusion: AgNOR count is a rapid, easily reproducible method of differentiating reactive mesothelial cells and malignant cells.