The Efficacy of Using the Tissue Fragments Present in Cervical Scrapes for the Histologic Diagnosis of Cervical Neoplasia

Cervical scrapes to diagnose cervical neoplasia, collected by the clinician with brushes, are sent to the Leiden Cytology and Pathology Laboratory (LCPL) in vials containing BoonFix, a noncross-linking coagulant fixative. Because the residual material left in the vials contains tissue fragments with important diagnostic information, we stored the residual material in our archives. The tissue fragments can be mummified and archived in commercially available histology cassettes. We can produce paraffin sections thereof. Immunostaining is beautiful on serial paraffin sections cut from these blocks. We experienced that it is important to leave the brush in the vial such that all tissue fragments can be used for histologic diagnosis. In order to optimize the system, tissue fragments left in the endocervical part of the brush are removed in a paint shaker. We illustrate this principle of recovering mummified tissue fragments in a false negative case with cytology containing many undiagnosable collapsed tissue fragments. This case shows clearly the efficacy of using the tissue fragments present in cervical scrapes for the histologic diagnosis of cervical neoplasia.