Abstract Background: Intraoperative squash cytology is a simple and reliable technique for rapid intraoperative diagnosis of neurosurgical specimens. Intraoperative squash cytology is a fairly accurate diagnostic modality which can be used in place of frozen sections. Aim: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of the squash preparation and to compare it with the histopathology sections. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted over a period of eight 8 years (May 2010 to June 2018) which included 131 patients with CNS lesions. The cytological preparations were stained by the rapid H & E method. The squash interpretation was compared with the paraffin section diagnosis. Results: Of the 131 patients, Squash cytology diagnosis was offered in all the cases. With hematoxylin and eosin-stained histopathology sections as the gold standard, the diagnostic accuracy of squash cytology was 95.4% (125/131). Among these cases, gliomas formed the largest group comprising of 50 cases (38.1%). The accuracy of squash cytology in this group was 94% (47/50). Conclusions: CNS squash preparations can be used for rapid and reliable intraoperative diagnosis for CNS lesions.
Keywords: Central Nervous System Lesions; Intraoperative Diagnosis; Squash Preparation.