immunocytochemistry in Differential Diagnosis of Soft Tissue Tumors

Abstract

The use of immunocytochemistry (IJCC) in the differential diagnosis of soft tissue tumors was investigated In 37 fine needle aspiration biopsies. When compared with histology, one of the cytological diagnosis was false-positive and two cases were false-negative. Twenty-one cases were given specific diagnoses by only cytologic parameters. In fourteen cases, a specific diagnosis could not be made by cytology alone and ICC was applied. Retrospectively selected slides were destained before applying the immunostain. After ICC, the number of specifically diagnosed cases increased to 33. In conclusion, ICC technique may be applied succesfully to routinely processed archival cytologic smears to determine the antigenic profile of soft tissue tumors.