Effect of brush rinse on the diagnostic accuracy of biliary stricture evaluation: A multicenter trial

Figure 1  Close-up photo of the biliary cytology brush used in this study.

Figure 2 Preparation of the specimens. A: Brush-wash specimens: The brush head was cut off the wire, placed in the medium, and centrifuged at 3000 r/m for 1 minute; B: Sheath-rinse specimens: The contents of the sheath were rinsed into the medium using a 10-cc syringe, and the specimens were centrifuged at 3000 r/m for 1 minute to isolate the cell pellet.

Figure 3 Representative examples of cytological specimens. A: A brush specimen showing only a few medium and small clusters of biliary epithelial cells (black arrows) (papanicolaou stain, magnification 20 ×); B: A sheath-rinse specimen showing several large (> 50 cells) irregular clusters of malignant cells as well as medium (6-49 cells) and small (2-5 cells) clusters of biliary epithelial cells (orange arrows).