A prospective inclusion of study samples from dogs that were presented for investigation of suspected neurological disease and had cerebrospinal fluid samples submitted to a commercial pathology laboratory for analysis.
A board-certified veterinary pathologist assessed all cerebrospinal fluid samples, and a line smear was assessed in-house by two observers.
Nucleated cell count, red blood cell count and differential cell counts were recorded and compared.
In-clinic and commercial pathology nucleated cell counts and red blood cell counts were strongly correlated.
In-house line smear results were compared with the gold standard of a defined dichotomous rating of ‘increased nucleated cell count’ provided by the external pathology service.
Sensitivity was 93% and specificity 80% for samples with at least two cells per linear field.
Although not a replacement for the assessment of cerebrospinal fluid samples by specialist veterinary pathologists, this method can provide rapid and clinically meaningful information before externally processed sample results are available.
Source: Newton, P. L., Fry, D. R. and Best, M. P. (2017), Comparison of direct in-house cerebrospinal fluid cytology with commercial pathology results in dogs. Journal of Small Animal Practice. doi: 10.1111/jsap.12733
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