COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SUREPATH LIQUID BASED CYTOLOGY WITH CONVENTIONAL PAP SMEAR IN SCREENING
Ankita Goel*, Manjit S Bal., Parmjit Kaur and Anudeep Gill
ABSTRACT
Background: Pap smear is a tool for screening “invisible” cervical abnormalities under light microscopy. Cervical cancers are preceded by precancerous lesions that can be detected by Pap test. The conventional Pap smear (CPS) technique is sometimes difficult to interpret due to overlapping cells, blood or inflammation. Liquid Based Cytology (LBC) enables cells to be suspended in a monolayer, improving specimen adequacy. Aim: To analyze satisfactory and unsatisfactory rates of LBC with CPS and compare the efficacy of LBC and CPS in the detection of normal smear, inflammation and epithelial cell abnormality. Materials and Methods: 300 cell samples were collected using cervex brush by split sample method and received in the Department of Pathology, Govt. Medical College, Patiala. LBC vial was processed by SurePath LBC. In each case, two smears were compared for the percentage of abnormalities detected. Statistical analysis: Pearson chi square test was used to analyze the data. P value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Results: Percentage of unsatisfactory samples decreased from 9.3% (CPS) to 0.3 % (LBC). The morphology of cells in samples showing excess of inflammation or excess blood was not obscured in LBC smears. The detection of epithelial cell abnormalities was increased from 13% to 21% (p value .018). Conclusions: LBC is highly effective in diagnosing precancerous and cancerous lesions of cervix in comparison to CPS by reducing the number of unsatisfactory specimens and improving cell details.
Keywords: Liquid based cytology (LBC), conventional pap smear (CPS), epithelial cell abnormality, cervical cancer.
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