Background:Intraoperative diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) lesions is of utmost importance for neurosurgeons to modify the approach at the time of surgery and to decide on further plan of management. The intraoperative diagnosis is challenging for neuropathologists.Aims:The study was undertaken to determine the accuracy of cytological techniques (crush smears and touch imprints), frozen sections of space occupying lesions of the CNS and compare it with histopathological diagnosis.Materials and Methods:A total of 75 specimens received intraoperatively were subjected to cytology and frozen section study.Results:Neoplastic lesions formed the major group with 62 (82.7%) cases while 13 (17.3%) were nonneoplastic. The diagnostic accuracy of “squash smears” was found to be 89.2%. “Touch imprints” showed diagnostic accuracy of 78.4%. The low accuracy of touch imprints was attributed to poor cellular yield. The diagnostic accuracy of “frozen section” was 75.7%. However, the overall diagnostic accuracy was 96%.Conclusion:We believe that the cytololgical methods and frozen sections are complimentary to each other and both should be used to improve the intraoperative diagnostic accuracy in the CNS lesion.

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Background Nontunneled hemodialysis catheters (NTHCs) remain the preferred vascular access at hemodialysis (HD) initiation in developing countries. We studied the incidence, risk factors and microbiological spectrum of jugular NTHC-associated bloodstream infections (CABSIs) at a tertiary care center in South Asia. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, all adult (≥18 years) incident patients who underwent jugular NTHC insertion for HD between January 2016 and June 2017, had no prior history of temporary vascular access insertion and were followed up for ≥14 days were included. Results A total of 897 patients underwent NTHC insertion during the study period and 169 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and contributed 7079 patient days of follow-up. CABSI incidence was 7.34 episodes per 1000 catheter days and median infection-free survival and time to CABSI were 96 and 24.5 days, respectively. In multivariate Cox regression analysis, immunosuppressive medication {hazard ratio [HR] 2.87 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09–7.55]; P = 0.033} and intravenous cefazolin use [HR 0.51 (95% CI 0.28–0.94); P = 0.031] was independently associated with CABSI. The cumulative hazard of CABSI was 8.3, 13.3, 17.6 and 20.9% at Weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Gram-negative organisms were the most common etiological agents (54.7%) and 40.3% of CABSIs were caused by drug-resistant organisms. Gram-negative and Gram-positive CABSIs were associated with neutrophil left shift and higher procalcitonin compared with coagulase-negative staphylococcal CABSIs. Conclusion In South Asia, NTHC-associated CABSIs occur early and are predominantly Gram negative. We hypothesize that poor hygiene practices may play a role in this phenomenon.