The medical and scientific study of cells.Cytology branch of pathology, the medical specialty that deals with making diagnoses of diseases and conditions through the examination of tissue samples from the body.
Cytological examinations may be performed on body fluids (examples are blood, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid) or on material that is aspirated (drawn out via suction into a syringe) from the body. Cytology also can involve examinations of preparations that are scraped or washed (irrigated with a sterile solution) from specific areas of the body. For example, a common example of diagnostic cytology is the evaluation of cervical smears (Pap smear).
