Cerebrospinal fluid cytology in patients with brain tumors; a simple method using the cell culture technique.

A simplified cytologic method using the cell culture technique was employed in 71 cases with brain tumor. Neoplasitc cells were demonstrated in 17 cases (24%), that is in 11 out of 30 cases of glioma, four out of ten cases of metastatic brain tumor, and two out of 17 cases of meningioma. None of 14 other miscellaneous tumors proved positive. Identification of glioma cells could be easily made because they usually showed characteristic morphology and good proliferation in vitro. However, for other types of tumor, conventional methods were considered to be superior to the culture method because their exfoliated cells usually underwent rapid degeneration without showing characteristic morphology during the culture. Some of the illustrative cases were presented.