A study on the development of liquid cell smear device used in the early detection of cancer cells

This study was conducted to develop a liquid cell smear device for the early detection of cancer cells. Liquid based cytology (LBC) diagnosis cancer using epithelial cells in the early diagnosis of cancer. LBC has advantages of repeated testing using cells collected once, and of producing a slide with the transparent background compared to the manually prepared slide. In this study, a liquid cell smear device that automatically prepares the slide for LBC was developed. For the efficient separation of alcohol, which is a main component of cell preserving solution used for the preservation of liquid cells, from cells, the cylinder and solenoid valve with high durability against alcohol were used. For the control of the moving distance of the suction cylinder and smear mover, a stepping motor was used to implement the mode corresponding to the cells. The implemented mode was comprised of five modes (uterine cervical, sputum, urine, body fluids, and the thyroid cells) for LBC. In addition, the manual mode and the cleaning mode to filter impurities deposited in the hose, cylinder, and solenoid valve were implemented. The slide was prepared according to each mode, and the smear condition of the prepared slide was examined by a cytopathologist in order to determine the optimal smear condition. As a result, the optimal slide was prepared in the condition of 3 for uterine cervical cells, 8 for sputum cells, 10 for urine cells, 1 for body fluid, and 6 for thyroid cells.