Unsatisfactory rate in liquid-based cervical samples as compared to conventional smears: A study from tertiary care hospital

Spectrum of cervicovaginal Pap smears in newly established tertiary care medical institute

Objectives

We undertook this study to find out the spectrum of the cervical smear pattern along with the clinical profiles of patients who underwent cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smear evaluation in our newly started tertiary care center. We also tried to find the possible clinical cause for unsatisfactory smears and factors for epithelial cell abnormality.

Material and Methods

The present study was a retrospective observational study. Pap smears cases with their clinical findings mentioned on the requisition form and cytopathology observations were retrieved from the archives of the department of pathology. Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Five hundred and ninety-four cases were included in the study. The most common age group was 36- 40 years. White discharge per vaginum was the most common clinical presentation. The negative for squamous intraepithelial lesions or malignancy was the most common interpretation (86.87%). Cervical erosion had statistically significant associations with unsatisfactory smears, while bacterial vaginosis had with satisfactory smears. Epithelial cell abnormality was seen in 4.62% patients. We observed a statistically significant association of cervical mucoid discharge, and inflammation with "no epithelial cell abnormality" cases, while postmenopausal bleeding was associated with "epithelial cell abnormality" cases.

Conclusion

In the presence of clinical factors like cervical erosion, which may affect the quality of Pap smear, proper sampling techniques are to be used by health-care providers. The careful evaluation of Pap smears, especially in cases of cervical mucoid discharge, postmenopausal bleeding, and inflammatory smears is required to ensure that epithelial cell abnormalities are not overlooked.

Importancia de la adecuación de la muestra citológica en la pesquisa de cáncer de cuello uterino

Objetivo: revisión realizada para destacar la importancia de una muestra citológica óptima para la pesquisa de cáncer de cuello uterino y sus lesiones precursoras, con fines preventivos de diagnóstico y conocimiento de los lineamientos de manejo clínico vigentes, mediante una adecuada muestra. Material y metodología. se realizó una búsqueda electrónica en la base de datos PubMed utilizando los siguientes términos y combinaciones: cervical cytology, screening cervical cáncer, Bethesda system, adecuacy, false negatives, clinical follow-up. Las variables fueron la adecuación de la muestra citológica para pesquisa de cáncer de cuello uterino establecida por el sistema Bethesda y el seguimiento clínico vigente.  Resultados: la evaluación de la calidad de la muestra citológica se considera como principal aporte de garantía de calidad del sistema Bethesda para el informe de los hallazgos. Existen lineamientos de manejo clínico relacionados con la adecuada muestra y el seguimiento clínico establecidos hace más de una década y que aún son vigentes. Conclusiones:  una muestra citológica óptima permite detectar una mayor proporción de lesiones del cuello uterino significativas, contribuye a la efectividad clínica de la pesquisa de cáncer y establece el mejor cuidado para la paciente. Es necesario concientizar al personal involucrado sobre la importancia de obtener muestras adecuadas.

Factores que afectan la suficiencia e interpretación de la citología de cuello uterino

Objetivo: evaluar los factores que afectan la suficiencia e interpretación de la citología de cuello uterino. Materiales y métodos: estudio transversal y retrospectivo en el Hospital Central “Dr. Urquinaona”, Maracaibo, Venezuela con la revisión de las historias clínicas e informes de las citologías de cuello uterino de la consulta de ginecología y obstetricia de enero a diciembre 2019. Se analizan las características generales y la clasificación de los informes (satisfactorios para la evaluación, satisfactorios pero limitados por y no satisfactorios). Resultados: se seleccionaron 581 informes de los cuales 329 (56,6%) eran muestras satisfactorias, 233 (40,1%) satisfactorias pero limitadas y 19 (3,3%) insatisfactorios. El análisis univariante demostró que la muestra insatisfactoria, la presencia síntomas al momento de la toma y el tipo de método anticonceptivo fueron factores que se asociaron significativamente (p < 0,0001). Los que influyeron para un resultado anormal de la citología cervical fueron frotis satisfactorio (razón de probabilidad, 4,78; intervalo de confianza del 95%, 3,127-8,136) y presencia de síntomas (razón de probabilidad, 11,652; intervalo de confianza del 95%, 2,992-38,55). Esta asociación continuó siendo significativa luego de ajustarlos a los factores de edad, paridad, edad al momento de la toma de la primera citología y método de anticoncepción (p < 0,0001). Conclusión: la suficiencia de la muestra de citología es un factor importante para la detección de anomalías celulares de cuello uterino y evitar resultados falsos negativos, retrasando la detección del cáncer.

Comparison of Cervical Levels of Interleukins-6 and -8 in Patients with and without Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia

Introduction:

Interleukins-6 and -8 are two pro-inflammatory cytokines increasing in serum and local levels under malignant conditions. There are limited evidences on the association between cervical level of these two factors and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). So, this study aimed to explore the association between cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 with cervical premalignant lesions.

Methods:

The present case-control study was conducted on married women undergone Pap smear for routine screening in two groups as the group with CIN (n=100) and the healthy control group (n=100). Cervical secretions were collected using sterile swab and the levels of IL-8 and IL-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software.

Results:

The mean cervical IL-6 level was 568.66±594.62 pg/ml in the patients with CIN and 212.7±213.9 pg/ml in the controls (P <0.001). The cervical IL-8 levels in the case and control groups were measured to be 1320.43±876.5 pg/ml and 1053.59±747.64 pg/ml, respectively (p=0.02). By modifying the confounding size effect of the age and marital duration, it was determined that cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were both associated with CIN.

Conclusion:

Our results showed that the cervical levels of IL-6 and IL-8 are associated with CIN independent of age and marital duration.

Impact of introduction of endocervical brush on cytologic detection of cervical epithelial cell abnormalities: A clinical audit of 13-years' experience at a cancer research centre

OBJECTIVE

To study the temporal trends in cytologic detection of cervical epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) and to evaluate the impact of introduction of endocervical brush sampling on detection of ECA.

STUDY DESIGN

This was a cross-sectional study of conventional cervical smears collected over a 13 year period (2006-2018). The study was divided into two time periods (TP)-TP1 (2006-2014, 67,437 smears) using only extended tip Ayre's spatula and TP2 (2015-2018; 36,746 smears) when Cytobrush Papsmear kit (Ayre's spatula + endocervical brush) was used. The unsatisfactory rate and detection rate of ECA was compared between the two TPs.

RESULTS

The unsatisfactory rate reduced from 4.7 % in TP 1-1.5% in TP2 (P < 0.001). The frequency of ECA was 1.5 % in TP1 and 1.9 % in TP2 (P < 0.001). A significantly higher number of ASC-H and HSIL were detected in TP2. There was a substantial improvement (3.7 times) in detection of glandular abnormalities overall (P < 0.001), as also for both the qualifiers AGC- NOS (4.4 times) and AGC- FN (3.3 times) in TP2.

CONCLUSIONS

Cervical sampling using combined spatula and endocervical brush reduces the unsatisfactory rate and improves the detection of both squamous and glandular precancerous lesions. Hence, this sampling procedure should be recommended for all laboratories practicing conventional cervical cytology.

Cervical Cancer Detection between Conventional and Liquid Based Cervical Cytology: a 6-Year Experience in Northern Bangkok Thailand

Objectives:

To determine the prevalence of abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) smear, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2 or higher and cancer between conventional Pap smear (CPP) and liquid based Pap smear (LBP).

Methods:

This retrospective study was conducted at Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand between January 2011 and December 2016. Data was collected from medical records of participants who attended for cervical cancer screening test. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy for detecting CIN 2 or higher were evaluated by using the most severity of histopathology reports.

Results:

A total of 28,564 cases were recruited. Prevalence of abnormal Pap smear from CPP and LBP were 4.8 % (1,092/22,552) and 5.7 % (345/6,012), respectively. Percentage of unsatisfactory smears in CPP (52.3%) was higher than LBP (40.5%). From CPP and LBP, cervical cancer percentages were 0.2 and 0.1, respectively. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of CPP and LBP for detection cancer were 42.5 vs 26.1%, 99.9 vs 100.0%, 69.8vs 75.0%, 99.7 vs 100.0 % and 99.7 vs 99.7%, respectively.

Conclusion:

Prevalence of abnormal cervical cytology and cancer from CPP and LBP were 4.8/0.2 and 5.7/0.1 percent, respectively. Unsatisfactory smear of LBP was less than CPP. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of CPP and LBP for detection CIN 2 or higher and cancer were comparable.