The study of individual cells and their structure, function, and abnormalities. In medicine, it's used to diagnose diseases by examining cells from body fluids, scraping, or fine needle aspirates, such as Pap smears for cervical cancer screening.
From Greek 'kytos' (cell, hollow vessel) and 'logos' (study). The field emerged in the 19th century when cell theory was established, but medical cytology developed in the 20th century with techniques for collecting and examining individual cells for disease diagnosis.
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