Urine Cytology

• Cytological examination of urine is carried out

to detect malignancies arising in the urothelium
or in the kidney.
• Preparation should be made from freshly
voided urine, within 2 hours of it’s production.
• Mid- stream specimens of urine passed after
the bladder has been emptied in morning
should be requested as they will contain freshly
shed cells.
• In screening programs designed to detect early
changes in bladder epithelium in population at
risk (rubber workers and cable industries)
specimen may have to reach lab as prefixed,
usually in 50% alcohol.

• Urine which can not be processed within 2

hours may be mixed with equal volume of ethyl
alcohol and Glacial acetic acid mixture.
• Cell contents of most urine is scanty.
• Preparation are easier to screen if they are
made using cytocentrifuge which concentrates
the cells into a define area on the slide.
• First urine centrifuged in ordinary centrifuge
for 5 mins at 1500 rpm.
• The supernatant and deposit are then
described on the report.
• Unless there is a thick deposit, when smears
can be made directly, enough of the
supernatant is discarded to resuspend the
deposit at a suitable dilution for a cytospine
preparation, that is not too thick.

• Pipette the specimen into at least 2 cuvettes of

the cytospine and spun at 1500 rpm for 10 min.
• Slides then removed from cytospine and the
preparations are fixed immediately using
aerosol spray fixative.

• Adherence of cells to slide in urine specimens

may be assisted by adding few drops of
fixatives containing Carbowax to the cuvette
before adding the urine.
• A smear of albumin on to the slide before it is
put in the cytospine will also prevent the loss
of cells.

• Vacuum filter technique (Millipore) may be

used for urine specimens.
• Cellulose acetate filters with a regular pore size
of (5.0 + 1.2 micron) are suitable for
cytological preparations.

• Care must be taken, to avoid high vacuum and

to break the vacuum before all fluid drawn
through the filter, as the filter must not be
allowed to dry.
• Ordinary method employ the following:

 Centrifugation of urine in 4000 rpm for 5 min.

 Put an adhesive media in the slide (albumin).
 Discharge the supernatant and drain the
deposit into the slide.
 Make a thin smear then fix as desire (95%
alcohol or air dry).
 Stain the smear (Pap, H&E or Romanowsky).