Crush preparations of gastroesophageal biopsy specimens in the diagnosis of malignancy.

The diagnostic value of crush preparations of endoscopic biopsy samples from gastroesophageal malignancies was studied. Forty-two patients with esophageal or gastric carcinomas were subjected to endoscopic biopsy and brushing. Half of each of two biopsy pieces from each case was crushed between two glass slides for cytologic evaluation. A positive yield (a diagnosis of malignancy) was achieved by histologic study of biopsy samples in 38 cases and by cytologic study of brushing smears in 37 cases and crush preparations in 40 cases. The advantages of the cytologic study of crush preparations were: (1) it expedited the workup of the patients and (2) it gave a positive yield in cases whose biopsy specimens were otherwise inadequate for making a definitive histologic diagnosis. Crush preparations thus combined the usefulness of biopsy and brushing techniques for the diagnosis of gastroesophageal malignancies.