Evaluation of Urine Cytology in Urothelial Carcinoma Patients: A Comparison of CellprepPlus® Liquid-Based Cytology and Conventional Smear

BACKGROUND Urine cytology is an important test in the screening of urothlelial neoplasms. The conventional smear (CS) method of testing urine samples has a low sensitivity, approximately 50% result accuracy for detecting urothelial carcinomas, while liquid-based cytology (LBC) has much improved diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. The aim of this study was to compare the morphologic features and diagnostic efficacy of CellprepPlus® LBC with those of CS for urine cytology. METHODS A total of 713 cases of urine specimens collected from November 2009 to September 2010 were included. All specimens were divided equally for the preparation of CellprepPlus® LBC and CS for each case. RESULTS CellprepPlus® revealed more cellularity, a cleaner background and better cytomorphologic features, but it showed a less intact architectural pattern compared to that of CS. Of the 88 histologically confirmed cases, the diagnostic sensitivity for CellprepPlus® was 50% and higher than the 37.5% for CS. The specificity of both preparations was 100%. CONCLUSIONS The CellprepPlus® showed an improved quality of slides and provided better diagnostic accuracy, thus CellprepPlus® could be a first-line screening tool in urinary tract cytology.