Usefulness of lavage cytology during endoscopic transpapillary catheterization into the gallbladder in the cytological diagnosis of gallbladder disease

Many studies have reported methods of cell collection involving percutaneous transhepatic cholangiodrainage (PTCD) and fine‐needle aspiration cytology for the diagnosis of gallbladder disease. However, few studies have described the use of a transpapillary approach, i.e., endoscopic transpapillary catheterization into the gallbladder (ETCG). In this study, we analyzed cells collected by ETCG to evaluate its usefulness in the cytological diagnosis of gallbladder disease. The subjects were 19 patients who had undergone ETCG for the diagnosis of gallbladder disease. Of these patients, 11 and 8 had gallbladder cancer and benign gallbladder disease, respectively. We also evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of PTCD cytology performed in 15 patients with gallbladder cancer. Specimens were cytologically diagnosed as normal or benign, indeterminate, suspected malignancy, malignant, and inadequate in 47% (9/19), 11% (2/19), 0% (0/19), 37% (7/19), and 5% (1/19) of patients, respectively. Specimens were diagnosed as malignant, indeterminate, normal or benign, and inadequate in 7, 2, 1, and 1, respectively, of the 11 patients diagnosed with gallbladder cancer. The sensitivity and specificity of ETCG cytology were 78 and 100%, respectively, whereas the diagnostic accuracy of PTCD cytology was 20% (3/15). None of the patients developed complications of ETCG. Despite its technical difficulty, ETCG for bile cytology allows the collection of adequate cell numbers from patients with benign disease or gallbladder cancer and facilitates a cytological diagnosis, making it a useful method for collecting cells. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.