Cytology, immunopathology and flow cytometry in the diagnosis of pleural and peritoneal effusions.

There were 106 pleural and peritoneal effusions studied in order to investigate the contribution of immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry to routine cytologic diagnosis. A panel of antibodies (to cytokeratin, vimentin, human milk fat globule, epithelial membrane antigen and carcinoembryonic antigen) was applied to aceton-fixed slides, using immunoperoxydase and immunofluorescence methods. Flow cytometry was performed using a double labeling method, i.e., propidium iodide for DNA staining and keratin for labeling of epithelial cells. In this way DNA aneuploidy was more evident in the histograms when the fluid contained many reactive nonepithelial cells (lymphocytes). A designation of marker profiles was made for the three most frequently occurring diagnoses, i.e., reactive mesothelial proliferation (I), adenocarcinoma (II), and malignant mesothelioma (III). For the differentiation between adenocarcinoma and malignant mesothelioma, carcinoembryonic antigen was the most useful marker as 75% of the adenocarcinomas was carcinoembryonic antigen-positive and the malignant mesotheliomas were consistently negative. Furthermore, evident DNA-aneuploidy strongly supported the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma, as most malignant mesotheliomas were DNA-euploid, even though occasional DNA-aneuploidy was found in malignant mesotheliomas when different effusions from the same patient were examined. For the differentiation between reactive mesothelial cells and malignant mesothelioma human milk fat globule and/or epithelial membrane antigen, in this study proved to be most reliable, their presence strongly indicating malignancy. It is stressed that the method used (fixation, antibodies, washing procedures) can influence these findings. In 16 patients (17%) performing immunopathology and/or flow cytometry meant an important contribution to diagnosis.