Cytopathology - Sputum

Screening and diagnostic interpretation

150 ml urine cup / sputum cup

Cytopathology - Sputum

Deliver to the lab as soon as possible at room temperature

Deliver specimens to the Clinical Laboratory Specimen Processing Area on the ground level of main hospital.

Give the patient a specimen container the night before the sample is to be collected and instruct the patient not to use it until the next morning. Instruct the patient to cough deeply "from the diaphragm" upon awaking in the morning and expectorate all of the sputum into the cup. Sputum is required, NOT SALIVA or SINUS DRAINAGE. If possible avoid admixture of sputum sample with food particles by not collecting specimen expectorated during or immediately after a meal. If a specimen must be collected at such time, instruct the patient to rinse his/her mouth thoroughly prior to specimen collection. The patient should continue to cough deeply and expectorate into the same cup for 1-2 hours after waking. After 1-2 hours the specimen container should be sealed and sent to the laboratory. DO NOT ADD FIXATIVE. This process should be repeated each day for 3 days, submitting each specimen promptly and immediately after it is obtained. NOTE: 24 hour sputum collections are NOT ACCEPTABLE for cytologic interpretation. Post bronchoscopy sputum immediately post procedure in the same manner indicated above. Generally a post bronch collection is done over a period of 30 minutes after procedure.

STAT requests should be kept to a minimum. All STAT requests must be approved by a staff pathologist, and the cytology laboratory notified as soon as possible whenever a STAT is anticipated.

Some patients will require sputum induction or other special procedures in order to obtain a satisfactory sputum sample. Clinicians should consult with Pulmonary Medicine for assistance and advice regarding such procedures.