Preparation of body fluid smears for microscopic examination requires concentration techniques that preserve cell integrity and morphology. Cytocentrifugation (also known as "cytospin") provides the best method for both concentrating cells in body fluid samples and maintaining cellular morphology. The cytospin process works by wicking fluid into a filter while fluid samples are spun into a central column and deposited in a mono-layer onto a defined area of a slide. This allows the cells to be concentrated for appropriate identification.
Most laboratory professionals working in the clinical hematology setting are familiar with the morphology of blood cells found in peripheral blood smears. Many of the same blood cells found in the peripheral blood are also found in cytospin preparations of body fluids. While the morphologies are similar between the two sources, there may be changes to the "comfortable/familiar" peripheral blood morphologies that are introduced by the cytospin technique.
