Reporting of Results and Statistics

Abstract

To be of diagnostic use to clinicians, it is important wherever possible to make an unequivocal statement about the presence or absence of tumour cells. In the great majority of fluids which contain tumour cells they are present in sufficient numbers and are easily recognized. The proportion of cases requiring special expertise or special methods is so small that an observer with long experience can produce only a small increment of positive reports, compared to one with small experience who reports ‘negative’ when he is not sure.