Diagnostic sensitivity and risk of malignancy for bile duct brushings categorized by the Papanicolaou Society of Cytopathology System for reporting pancreaticobiliary cytopathology.

Diagnostic sensitivity for duct brushings is low in comparison to fine-needle aspiration. Risk of malignancy is comparable to that of needle aspiration for the negative, atypical and suspicious categories but lower for the malignant category. There is a stepwise increase in malignancy risk as one moves from the negative to the atypical to the suspicious for malignancy categories.