USES AND LIMITATIONS OF ANCILLARY TECHNIQUES
APPLIED TO CYTOPATHOLOGY

Jeffrey S. Ross, M.D.

USES AND LIMITATIONS IN FLOW AND IMAGE CYTOMETRY APPLIED TO CYTOPATHOLOGY SPECIMENS As mentioned, the use of image cytometric and flow cytometric techniques to determine the proliferative compartment of S-phase of a cycling group of cells is generally imprecise. Flow cytometry is superior to image analysis in this regard, but is still considered an estimate of the S-phase percentage and may be hampered in cytologic specimens featuring insufficient cellularity for statistically meaningful mathematical calculations of S-phase. The remainder of this section is focused on the use of image cytometric and flow cytometric methods in determining the modal DNA content of a tumor cell population or DNA ploidy.