Leishman-Giemsa cocktail: an effective Romanowsky stain for air-dried cytologic smears.

OBJECTIVE

To develop an economical, quick, readily available and simple alternative to May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) stain and so to explore the combination of Leishman and Giemsa stain (LG cocktail).

STUDY DESIGN

One wet-fixed and 2 air-dried smears were prepared from 720 cases during the period January 2003-November 2004. The LG cocktail and MGG stain were used on the air-dried smears and Papanicolaou stain in wet-fixed smears. Diagnoses of the cases were made using the LG cocktail-stained smears, and then its diagnostic efficacy was cross-checked with the MGG- and Papanicolaou-stained smears by the same cytopathologist. A comparative study of the LG cocktail and MGG-stained smears was done.

RESULTS

The results achieved with the LG cocktail-stained smears were comparable to or even better than those with the MGG-stained smears, with excellent diagnostic efficacy.

CONCLUSION

As compared to MGG stain, the 1-step LG cocktail is cheaper, easier to standardize and quicker.