Abstract

ABSTRACT: We reviewed all “suspect” results of respiratory cytology obtained over a ten-year period at our medical center. There were 435 patients with one or more “suspect” respiratory cytology determinations who were classified as having benign or malignant respiratory tract disease by using a system of detailed, reproducible verification criteria; 61.8% of them had malignant disease. Patients with “suspect” bronchoscopic determinations and those thought to have a specific type of neoplasm were found to have significantly more malignant respiratory tract disease than patients lacking these parameters, though diagnostic efficiency values for these characteristics were low (54.0% and 61.8%, respectively). The most common causes of benign respiratory disease (167 patients) were pneumonia (38.9%) and mycobacterial infection (21.6%). Our data indicate that “suspect” respiratory cytology diagnoses (even bronchoscopic and those suggesting a specific type of malignancy) represent an indeterminate group requiring further evaluation before therapeutic action is taken.