Touch Imprint Cytology: A Rapid and Accurate Method for Diagnosis of Oral Cancer

Objectives: Touch imprint cytology (TIC) is a rapid and cheap method and can be used as an adjunct to biopsy for the evaluation of suspected malignancy. We evaluated the advantages and limitations of TIC for the preoperative diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Study Design: We used 280 incisional biopsies of clinically suspected oral squamous cell carcinoma and compared TIC diagnosis to histopathological sections. The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of TIC were evaluated. Results: A total of 201 (82.5%) cases were diagnosed as malignant, 22 (7.9%) cases were diagnosed as suspicious of malignancy, and 54 (19.3%) cases as benign/negative on TIC. The overall sensitivity of TIC was 98.2%, specificity was 89.3%, the positive-predictive value 97.3%, and the negative-predictive value was 92.6%. The accuracy of the test was 96.4%. Conclusions: TIC is an accurate, simple, rapid, and cost-effective method that aids the diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma but does not replace incisional biopsy. The cytologic examination of imprints of biopsies also helps determine the adequacy of the specimen for histologic examination.