Background: The cytopathological examination of effusion fluids is an essential aspect of everyday cytopathology practice. A standard, uniform reporting system across laboratories promotes good interobserver agreement and supports proper clinical care through the use of a set of diagnostic criteria.
Materials and methods: The present study included all the cases of serous effusion fluids received over a 3-year period. The study was started after obtaining Institutional Ethics Committee clearance. The International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology (ISRSFC) system was used, which classifies into five different categories—nondiagnostic (ND), negative for malignancy (NFM), atypia of unknown significance (AUS), suspicious for malignancy (SFM), and malignant (MAL).
Results: A total of 600 serous effusion samples were included in the study, of which 337 were peritoneal fluid, 261 were pleural fluid, and two were pericardial fluid. The majority of the cases belonged to NFM (511; 85.1%), followed by MAL (47; 7.8%), ND (24; 4%), AUS (10; 1.6%), and SFM (8; 1.3%). The risk of malignancy (ROM) for category three was 75%, and that of categories four and five was 100%.
Conclusion: The ISRSFC categories provide a user-friendly and accurate standard for the interpretation and reporting of effusion cytology.
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