Possibilities and limitations of cytological diagnoses of small cell bronchogenic carcinoma.

We investigate the possibilities and limitations of cytological examinations of small cell bronchogenic carcinoma by considering the results of cytodiagnoses of malignancy and histogenesis from both exfoliative and biopsy material. When a diagnosis is made from biopsy material the accuracy rate is found to be 99% for cytology, indicating that the rate for histology could be improved by as much as 20%. In peripheral small cell bronchogenic carcinoma, examination of catheter biopsies was seen to be superior to that of sputum or aspirates. When exfoliative material was used, however, only about half the cases admitted of diagnosis. Determination of histogenesis appears to depend largely on the type of material examined, and the accuracy rates vary between 70% and 95%. It is clear that the results obtained with cytological methods are considerably better than those obtained with preoperative and intraoperative histological methods.