A STUDY OF CORRELATION OF PAP SMEAR AND COLOPOSCOPY WITH HISTOPATHOLOGICAL FINDINGS IN CASES OF UNHEALTHY CERVIX

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cervical malignancy is the second most common among the malignancies in females, with breast carcinoma the first. Screening of unhealthy cervix by pap smear and supported by colposcopy and histopathology can easily identify the premalignant lesions and also other non-invasive inflammatory lesions of the cervix. OBJECTIVES: To correlate Pap smear and Colposcopy findings with histopathological findings in detecting premalignant lesions in the unhealthy cervix. MATERIALS AND METHODS:A prospective observational study was conducted on 100 symptomatic, sexually active women of 20-60 years. Pap smears and colposcopy was done for all 100 women who came with complaints of white discharge per vagina, intermenstrual, postcoital, or postmenopausal bleeding. The final correlation of the Pap smear and colposcopy was based on histopathology reports. RESULTS: In the present study, the sensitivity of Pap smear for detecting lesions above LSIL was 82.3%, specificity 96.9%, PPV was 93.3%, negative predictive value 91.4% and accuracy of Pap smear was 92%. The sensitivity of colposcopy in the detection of low-grade lesions and above came out to be 94.1%,specificity 87.8%,positive predictive value 80%,negative predictive value 96% and accuracy of colposcopy was 90%. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the accuracy of detection of cervical abnormalities is higher when cytology, colposcopic guided cervical biopsy and colposcopy are used complimentarily in the diagnosis of cervical lesions. Colposcopy abolishes the need for repeated follow-up as in Pap smear and helps to reduce false-negative cases.