| Abstract: |
Tzanck smear is an immediate aid to establish a precise clinical diagnosis in many skin diseases. It is technically simple, rapid, painless and impressive method where a definitive therapy can be undertaken at the consultation.In this study, review of literature included Tzanck smear, its definition, history, preparation, fixation, staining and examination. Also, histology, cytology of normal skin and value of smear in some diseases.In the present study, We aimed to investigate Tzanck smear findings and to determine the diagnostic value of this test in some (erosive, vesicular, bullous, and pustular) skin diseases. Moreover, we made a comparison between Tzanck smear, histopathology and clinical diagnosis of these diseases.Some immunobullous dermatosis as pemphigus vulgaris and bullous impetigo and candidiasis, also to confirm the results of cytology with that of histology in some of these. Therefore, this study was conducted on 50 patients presenting to the outpatient of Dermatology and Venereology of Zagazig University Hospitals. The selected patients were classified into 5 groups; herpes simplex (10 cases), herpes zoster (10 cases), impetigo (10 cases), pemphigus (10 patients) and candidiasis (10 cases).In this study, we prepared Tzanck smear by different method, then we used different fixatives and stained by H&E and examination under microscope.The cytological findings were correlated with the clinical diagnosis, type of lesions and confirmed by histopathological diagnosis (when needed).In the viral group, the diagnosis of each disease is actually clinical, except in doubtful or atypically distributed lesions, where cytology can play a role.Positive Tzanck smear was detected in vesicular viral cases and showed the characteristic features in common, as no specific finding to distinguish each individual disease. So, definitive disease diagnosis is actually be correlated with the clinical picture.It was found that positivity of Tzanck smear correlated with the stage of the lesion, the vesicular stage was the most common stage to yield positive results. As regard bullous disorders, Tzanck smear was positive in 80% of pemphigus cases. So, it can offer a great help for the diagnosis with regular characteristic cytological findings that allow an accurate diagnosis enough to go ahead and start therapy in a life-threatening disease.Conclusion..
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