Comparison of Staining Characteristics of Papanicolaou Stain and May-Grünwald-Giemsa Stain in Tzanck Smear Cytology
Introduction: Although the skin is more readily accessible to the cytological examination than any other organ, cytodiagnosis is much less frequently used in dermatology. Tzanck smears are routinely stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) stain. But, Papanicolaou (PAP) stain is known to yield pol...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.jcdr.net/articles/PDF/15013/48711_F[IK]_PF1(AGSK)_Redo_[SK]_PFA(KM)_PB(AG_KM)_PN(KM).pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Although the skin is more readily accessible to
the cytological examination than any other organ, cytodiagnosis
is much less frequently used in dermatology. Tzanck smears
are routinely stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa (MGG) stain.
But, Papanicolaou (PAP) stain is known to yield polychromatic
transparent staining with crisp nuclear and cytoplasmic features.
Aim: To compare the staining characteristics of PAP stained
and MGG stained Tzanck smears by using a scoring system.
Materials and Methods: The present study was a crosssectional study on Tzanck smears, conducted at a tertiary care
referral Institute, PES Institute of Medical Sciences and Research
(PESIMSR), Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh, India, from March 2016
to April 2017. In each case, two Tzanck smears were prepared.
One smear was wet-fixed in isoproplyl alcohol and stained by
PAP method. The other smear was air-dried and stained by
MGG stain. Both the smears were evaluated for the staining
characteristics by using a scoring system. The scoring system
was indigenously designed for evaluating the stained sections.
All the staining parameters such as contrast, cytoplasmic
features, nuclear features and background were evaluated in the
scoring system employed in the present study. Chi-square test
and two sample t-test were used for statistical analysis.
Results: Forty cases of Tzanck smears were analysed. Most
common diagnostic entity was cutaneous infections in 18
cases (45%). The average scores of all the parameters of
staining characteristics and the overall score were better in PAP
stained smears than MGG stained smears. The p-values were
statistically significant.
Conclusion: PAP stain may be considered as a behooveful
stain for the evaluation of Tzanck smear. It may be suggested
that, although the PAP stained smears scored better than MGG
statistically, both the stains may be used as complementary to
each other. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |