A brief and painless way to explain the career is to say that a cytotech is the person who screens cells samples from multiple body sites in search of numerous organisms, abnormalities, and most often cancer with the aid of a microscope. The task is easier explained than accomplished due to the varying degrees of differences even when two people are diagnosed with the same ailment. There is also d
ifficulty in interobserver interpretation as what looks “bad” to one person may not seem quite so “bad” to another. There are many steps in screening cells from body sites and many different ways that these cells are obtained. There is also a difference in the cell types as some body sites are only sampled on the surface while other body sites are sampled from within. The two main areas that cells are gathered from include surface cells/epithelium and cells that are collected from within a growth, lesion, or mass within the body. These cells, wherever they are collected from are all processed in a similar fashion. The samples are either placed in alcohol before air has time to dry the cells out or they are allowed to air dry. When cells air dry they expand and some of the details that the cytotech uses to determine if they are normal are lost. Placing them in alcohol, also known as fixing, captures the cellular detail that the cells have within the body. The cells can then be placed on a glass slide through various methods and then they are stained with various stains that exemplifies different aspects of the sample. Once the cells are collected, fixed or dried, placed on a slide, and stained the cytotechnologist obtains the slide. Collection is usually done by a clinician or pathologist (doctors) and theprocessing can sometimes be done by cytotechnologists but is also often performed by laboratory professionals. The cytotech recieves the slide prepared and ready for screening. The cytotech uses the microscope to “read” the entire slide and every cell on that slide is reviewed. With time and experience the cytotech accumulates increased speed performing this feat while also being able to accurately identify anything that is not “normal”. There are many different things that a cytotech looks for, and with the aid of the requisition form this challenge is sometimes narrowed and more effective. The requisition form is a paper that has patient information that may include previous history or any suspicion that the clinician has that they may have noticed when they had contact with the patient. Some of the different things that are normal in a cell sample really depends on the site in which the cells are collected from. The cytotech learns what is normally found with years of biology and specific study through an internship. Cells that are screened include surface or epithelial cells that are found in the female reproductive path that are collected via a screening procedure called the Pap smear. Cells can also be brush from other areas of the body including the esophagus, the biliary system, and the intestines. Other cells are collected through a process called fine needle aspiration where a syringe that has a very skinny needle is placed into a mass, lesion, or cyst that has been discovered by the patient or clinician. Almost any body site can be sampled using this method, especially with the help of an ultrasound machine that allows a doctor to see what they are sampling even if it is within the body. Another sampling method is “washing” which uses saline to wash the surface of a cavity and collect cells.
