Possitivity Rate of Sputum Cytology Compared to Bronchoscopy and Transthoracic Needle Aspiration in Lung Cancer Patients at Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, Indonesia

Introduction: Sputum cytology is the only non-invasive method which can detect early lung malignancies. The principle of it is a finding of cells shed from the lesion, either spontaneously or artificially. Aim: This study purposed to evaluate the positivity rate of sputum cytology compared to bronchoscopy or transthoracic needle aspiration (TTNA) in lung cancer patients. Place and Duration of Study: A prospective cross-sectional study used medical record data using SIRS from 2022 until completed or reached the desired number of samples at Wahidin Sudirohusodo General Hospital, Makassar. Methodology: Patients diagnosed with lung cancers, done a sputum cytology, and bronchoscopy/ TTNA were included. The patients had consented to be included in the study and the study had passed the ethical clearance from Hasanuddin Medical University Ethical Research Committee. Results: Of111 patients with lung cancer, which 46 patients (41,4%) were adenocarcinoma and the other 65 patients (58,6%) were squamous cell carcinoma. Patients with positive sputum cytology were 5 (4,5%), with tumor sizes ≥3cm were 107 patients (86%), and with a hemoptysis history was 59 patients (53,2%). The relationship between sputum cytology and histopathology, tumor size, and hemoptysis history were not significant (each p value >0.05). However, there was a relationship between sputum cytology and tumor location with a significant relationship between the two (p-value = 0.002). Conclusion: Sputum cytology is not recommended for diagnosing lung cancer due to low positivity rate, but the prediction rate is high which most likely is central squamous cell carcinoma.