A prospective study was performed at 2 university hospitals between 2010 and 2013. Patients being evaluated for malignant-appearing biliary strictures were included (N = 99). Bile duct brushings were collected and assessed by cytology and FISH. Sensitivities with 95% confidence intervals of cytology and FISH were the main outcome measures.
The overall sensitivities of cytology and FISH were 38% and 55%, respectively (P = .001). For those with a diagnosis of cancer based on clinical evidence without biopsy confirmation (n = 44), the sensitivities of cytology and FISH were 43% and 57%, respectively (P = .06). For the 49 patients for whom a cancer diagnosis was confirmed by pathology, FISH had a significantly higher sensitivity than cytology, with a sensitivity of 53% versus 33%, respectively (P = .008).
FISH improves the diagnostic performance of cytology and can be used as a complementary tool to bile duct brushing and biopsy for the evaluation of malignancy in biliary strictures in Asian populations.