SUMMARY
In order to evaluate both the efficacy and reliability of the cytologic method in the diagnosis of conjunctival lesions, we used this method to study 65 tumoral lesions of the conjunctiva. Samples were obtained with a Kimura spatula, after instillation of topical anesthetics. The lesions were then surgically removed. The Papanicolaou technique, modified by Masson, was used for the cytologic examination while the histologic examination used the hematoxilin-eosin staining.
Thirty-five lesions were diagnosed as benign by the cytologic method: 32 were confirmed by the histologic examination, one was diagnosed as a malignant lesion, and two as pre-malignant lesions. All 10 cases of cytologic diagnosis of malignancy were confirmed by the histologic examination. From the 18 cases of cytologic diagnosis of suspicion for malignancy, two were diagnosed as benign, nine as pre-malignant lesions and seven as malignant by the histologic examination.
The test was 90% sensitive and had a specificity of 94%. The positive predictive value was 93% and the negative was 95%.
The cytologic method is a simple, inexpensive, effective and reliable diagnostic method in the diagnosis of tumoral lesions of the conjunctiva.