Glandular neoplasia and borderline endocervical reporting rates before and after conversion to the SurePathTM liquid-based cytology (LBC) system

HPV Genotype Specific and Age Stratified Immediate Prevalence of Cervical Precancers and Cancers in Women with NILM/hrHPV+: A Single Center Retrospective Study of 26,228 Cases

Purpose

To investigate the prevalence of precancers [high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS)] and cancers [squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC)] in various high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) genotypes or age groups among women with negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM) and hrHPV-positive pap results.

Materials and Methods

In total, 26,228 women with NILM/hrHPV+ were included in the study. Among them, 5893 had immediate follow-up biopsy results available and were selected for further prevalence analysis.

Results

About 7.6% and 0.7% women with NILM/hrHPV+ had HSIL and AIS, respectively. The prevalence of HSIL+ squamous lesions is significantly higher in HPV-16+ group than that in other genotype groups (p < 0.0001). The prevalence of AIS+ glandular lesions is significantly higher in HPV-18/45+ groups than women in other genotype groups (p < 0.0001). In addition, the prevalence of HSIL+ lesions was significantly higher in age 25-39 years group than that in age 40-65 years group and >65 years group (p < 0.0001). Overall, the prevalence of HSIL+ in younger women was significantly higher than that in older women when using a cutoff age of 40 years (9.3% vs 5.9%, p < 0.0001) or 50 years (8.6% vs 4.9%, p < 0.0001). No significant difference in AIS+ prevalence was found among different age groups (p = 0.611). Interestingly, the prevalence of SCC and ADC in older women (≥40 years, 0.3% and 0.3%, respectively) was significantly higher than that in younger women (<40 years, 0% and 0.07%) (p = 0.001 for SCC; p = 0.02 for ADC).

Conclusion

The significant risk of cervical precancers and cancers still exists in women with NILM/hrHPV+, notably the older patient group had a lower risk of cervical precancer, but higher risk of cancer. Therefore, HPV genotyping can be an effective supplemental tool to cytology, and patient age also needs to be considered in the clinical management of patient.

The role of Pap smear in the diagnostics of endocervical adenocarcinoma

In the high-income countries, the amount of cervical adenocarcinomas is on the rise. The pap smear sampling has a low sensitivity and a low specificity for endocervical malignancies, and there are only a few cytomorphological features, that are specifically associated with glandular atypia. In this study, 298 pap smears of 60 patients with endocervical adenocarcinoma or adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and 30 patients with high-grade intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) in histology were reviewed. The pap smear type (screening/clinical), the HPV status and the time from sampling to the histological confirmation of diagnosis were recorded for each case. Despite that no cytomorphological features could be associated with adenocarcinoma statistically, 70% of the pap smears were initially correctly diagnosed as an endocervical glandular lesion. Palisading cell borders, nuclear pleomorphism and the lack of single atypical cells present simultaneously were found to be associated with adenocarcinoma and AIS with the corresponding ORs of 5.89 (95% CI 1.96-17.70), 3.71 (95% CI 1.14-12.02) and 10.76 (95% CI 1.20-59.50). This combination of features was seen in smears taken up to 5 years before the histological diagnosis. Of all our screening samples, 10.9% were HPV-positive. There were no HPV-negative samples among patients with adenocarcinoma.

How useful are cervical Pap smears in detecting endometrial carcinomas? A tertiary cancer center experience

OBJECTIVE

To determine the role of routine cervical Pap smears in detecting endometrial carcinomas.

METHOD

A retrospective study was carried out from the histopathology archives for cases diagnosed as endometrial carcinomas with Pap smears within 6 months before histological diagnosis. The demographic details, reports of Pap smears and other tumor parameters on histopathology were noted.

RESULTS

We identified 380 of 482 cases of endometrial carcinoma with a documented Pap smear within 6 months before histopathogical diagnosis. Out of 380 cases, 187 cases (49.2%) had shown abnormalities on Pap smear of which 80 cases (42%) were diagnosed as atypical glandular cells and 78 cases (41.7%) were diagnosed as adenocarcinoma. The presence of glandular abnormality on Pap smear significantly correlated with the tumor type, myometrial invasion and cervical involvement on histopathology (P < .05). Cases which had higher FIGO staging also had a higher detection rate on Pap smear (P < .05).

CONCLUSION

The Pap smear may help in detection of endometrial carcinoma especially in cases with type 2 endometrial carinomas, tumor with cervical involvement and/or advanced FIGO stage.

Role of fractal dimension in distinguishing benign from malignant endometrial clusters in liquid-based cervical samples

INTRODUCTION

Exfoliated endometrial cells are often seen as hyperchromatic crowded groups (HCGs) in cervical samples. It is challenging for the cytopathologists to discriminate between HCGs of benign and malignant endometrial cells. Fractal dimension (FD) analysis has proved to be a useful tool in discriminating between different types of cell groups in previous studies.

AIMS

This study was conducted to evaluate the utility of FD for differentiating between benign and malignant endometrial HCGs, in liquid-based cervical samples.

METHODS

Two groups of cervical samples, with subsequent histopathology, were selected: Group A: 30 cases with benign endometrial HCGs; and Group B: 39 cases with malignant endometrial HCGs. Image J, NIH and FracLac software were used for selecting and measuring the FD of the HCGs. Student t-test was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The mean FD for benign endometrial HCGs (1.066943 ± 0.0699) was significantly lower than that of the malignant endometrial HCGs (1.086271 ± 0.05121; P = .001). Using receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, we determined that an FD cut-off value of 1.01 would yield sensitivity of 90.3%, specificity of 26.1%, positive predictive value of 47.3% and negative predictive value of 78.6%.

CONCLUSION

The measurement of FD of HCGs in cervical samples can serve as a useful screening adjunct to differentiate malignant from benign HCGs, owing to its high sensitivity. However, in view of its low specificity and positive predictive value, we recommend that cases labelled as malignant by the FD value be confirmed for malignancy by other methods.

Glandular Cell Abnormalities on SurePath Preparations: A Retrospective Review with Cytology-Histology Correlations

OBJECTIVE

Detecting glandular lesions is challenging by all Pap test methodologies. As the availability of data on identifying glandular abnormalities by SurePath is scarce, we investigated the detection rates and the correlation with histology follow-up.

STUDY DESIGN

A total of 105,927 cases (SurePath and conventional) were searched for the diagnosis of atypical glandular cells or higher glandular abnormalities (AGC+) with the corresponding histologic diagnosis. The associations between the Pap test methods and diagnostic categories were assessed by χ2 test.

RESULTS

Overall, 0.32% of SurePath (159/49,375) and 0.29% of conventional (164/56,552) cases showed AGC+ (p = 0.38). Histology confirmed significant abnormalities in 42 versus 53.5% of the cases, respectively (p = 0.064); 72.7% (SurePath) versus 65.2% (conventional) of these were glandular in nature (p = 0.37). The diagnosis of neoplasia (favored or definitive) showed malignancy on follow-up in 100% of SurePath cases (12/12). In contrast, 82.1% of these conventional cases disclosed premalignant or malignant lesions by histology (p = 0.12).

CONCLUSIONS

AGC+ cases showed higher prevalence on SurePath preparations. Conventional cases had more abnormalities on follow-up, while glandular lesions represented a higher proportion of abnormal histologies following SurePath AGC+s. The positive predictive value of favored or definite neoplasia was higher in SurePath cases. Overall, these differences were not statistically significant.

Comparison of Unsatisfactory Rates and Detection of Abnormal Cervical Cytology Between Conventional Papanicolaou Smear and Liquid-Based Cytology (Sure Path®)

PURPOSE

To compare unsatisfactory rates and detection of abnormal cervical cytology between conventional cytology or Papanicolaou smear (CC) and liquid-based cytology (LBC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 23,030 cases of cervical cytology performed at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital during 2012-2013 were reviewed. The percentage unsatisfactory and detection rates of abnormal cytology were compared between CC and LBC methods.

RESULTS

There was no difference in unsatisfactory rates between CC and LBC methods (0.1% vs. 0.1%, p = 0.84). The detection rate for squamous cell abnormalities was significantly higher with the LBC method (7.7% vs. 11.5%, p < 0.001), but those for overall abnormal glandular epithelium were similar (0.4% vs. 0.6%, p = 0.13). Low grade squamous lesion (ASC-US and LSIL) were more frequently detected by the LBC method (6.1% vs. 9.5%, p < 0.001). However, there was no difference in high gradd squamous lesions (1.1% vs. 1.1%, p = 0.95). When comparing between types of glandular abnormality, there was no significant difference the groups.

CONCLUSIONS

There was no difference in unsatisfactory rates between the conventional smear and LBC. However, LBC could detect low grade squamous cell abnormalities more than CC, while there were similar rates of detection of high grade squamous cell lesions and glandular cell abnormalities.

Endometrial Adenocarcinoma in SurePath™ Cervical Samples: Cytological Features Revisited

OBJECTIVE

The cytomorphological criteria of malignant endometrial lesions in cervical samples are less well described than those of cervical lesions. We wished to investigate if there were features in SurePath™ liquid-based cytology samples that would facilitate more accurate differentiation between benign and malignant endometrial cells.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a two-phase study, with a review of all SurePath™ samples reported as endometrial adenocarcinoma (n = 42) evaluating 12 cytological features in the first phase. In phase 2 (test set), all initial cases plus an additional 83 cases were reviewed using these 12 cytological features to predict the outcome.

RESULTS

Out of 12 cytological features evaluated in phase 1 (training set), nuclear chromatin pattern, apoptotic bodies and tingible body macrophages were found to be the most significant features determining malignant histological outcome. These 12 cytological features were re-evaluated in phase 2 (n = 125). Of 125 cases, 54 had a benign and 71 had a malignant or premalignant histological outcome, with a positive predictive value of 56.8%.

CONCLUSION

Granular nuclear chromatin, tingible body macrophages and apoptosis in the background are the most significant factors in determining whether endometrial cells present in cervical samples represent malignancy or are benign. Using these features, relatively accurate predictions of endometrial pathology can be made.

Detecting uterine glandular lesions: Role of cervical cytology

Background:

The sensitivity of cervical cytology for detection of glandular lesions is reported to be low. We conducted this study to assess the diagnostic accuracy of cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smears for uterine glandular lesions and to compare the diagnostic utility of conventional and liquid-based cytology (LBC) smears for glandular lesions.

Materials and Methods:

Archived histopathology records of all cases reported as endocervical and endometrial adenocarcinoma in the study period were identified and the available corresponding Pap smears (in preceding 1 year) were retrieved. In addition, the Pap smears reported as glandular cell abnormalities (GCA) during the same study period were retrieved. The overall prevalence of GCA, sensitivity, and specificity of Pap smears for the detection of GCA was calculated. The diagnostic accuracy of conventional and LBC smears for the diagnosis of GCA was also compared.

Results:

The prevalence of GCA in our study was 0.32%. The overall specificity of Pap smears for the diagnosis of GCA was 60.8%, this was not significantly different between conventional and LBC smears (P = 0.4). The overall sensitivity of Pap smears for the detection of GCA was 41.8%; LBC smears had significantly better sensitivity as compared to conventional smears for the detection of endometrial as compared to endocervical adenocarcinoma (P < 0.05).

Conclusions:

The prevalence of GCA in Pap smears is low. The specificity of Pap smears, for diagnosis of GCA, was found to be moderate. However, the overall sensitivity of Pap smears for the detection of GCA was low, though better for LBC as compared to conventional smears.

Direct sampling of metastatic ovarian carcinoma masquerading as endocervical adenocarcinoma in liquid-based cytology cervical sample

Cervical sample is routinely taken to identify squamous dysplastic lesions of the cervix. Glandular lesions are far less commonly reported on cervical samples. The most common glandular lesion reported on cervical smear is endocervical adenocarcinoma, followed by endometrial adenocarcinoma. Direct sampling by Cervex brush is possible even in endometrial adenocarcinoma, if the tumor directly involves lower uterine segment/endocervical canal. Metastases to cervix are rare but have occasionally been reported in previous reports. We wish to highlight in this case, metastatic ovarian carcinoma directly sampled in cervical liquid-based cytology (LBC) sample, which mimicked cytomorphologically a well-differentiated endocervical adenocarcinoma. To the best of our knowledge, a similar case has not been previously published in SurePath LBC sample.