Papanicolaou stain

Papanicolaou stain, abbreviated Pap stain, is a standard stain used in cytopathology. It is a modified H&E stain.

Papanicolaou stain
Stain in short
Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion.
Abbreviation	Pap stain
Similar stains	Romanowsky stains
Use	the standard stain in cytopathology
Interpretation	blue/purple = nucleus, pink/green = cytoplasm, orange = keratin

General

• Can be thought of as the H&E of cytopathology.
  • It is a modified H&E stain.
• Specimens are fixed in ethanol.
• Good for seeing nuclear detail.
• Out-of-focus cytoplasm is translucent; allows one to focus overlapped cells in different planes.

Use

• Cytopathology.

Interpretation

• Blue/purple = nucleus.
• Green/pink = cytoplasm.
• Orange = keratin.

Images

• 

  LSIL - Pap stain. (WC)

• 

  HSIL - Pap stain. (WC)

• 

  Urine cytology - Pap stain. (WC)

See also

• Stains.