<P> Cytopathology is frequently, less precisely, called cytology, which means "the study of cells". </P> <P> There are two methods of collecting cells for cytopathologic analysis: exfoliative cytology, and intervention cytology . </P> <P> In this method, cells are collected after they have been either spontaneously shed by the body ("spontaneous exfoliation"), or manually scraped / brushed off of a surface in the body ("mechanical exfoliation"). An example of spontaneous exfoliation is when cells of the pleural cavity or peritoneal cavity are shed into the pleural or peritoneal fluid . This fluid can be collected via various methods for examination . Examples of mechanical exfoliation include Pap smears, where cells are scraped from the cervix with a cervical spatula, or bronchial brushings, where a bronchoscope is inserted into the trachea and used to evaluate a visible lesion by brushing cells from its surface and subjecting them to cytopathologic analysis . Liquid - based cytology collects the samples in the same way but places them in liquid that is then treated to allow for improved results . </P> <P> In interventional cytology the pathologist intervenes into the body for sample collection . </P>

In exfoliative cytology the cells for examination are obtained by