A study of cytopathological pattern of cervical papanicolaou smear examination in women between 20 - 75 years of age group

Abstract

Background: Cancer of uterine cervix is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity among women worldwide. The primary cause of this cancer is infection with human papillomavirus. Pap smear is a simple, safe, non-invasive and cost effective method for the detection of pre-cancerous, cancerous and benign lesions of cervix.Aim: To study the cytological patterns of cervical Pap smears in 766 cases and to classify the cytological abnormalities based on the Bethesda system 2014.Materials and methods: A retrospective study of total 766 cases of cervical smears was done at Pathology department, GMERS Medical College and Civil Hospital, Sola, Ahmedabad over a period of 1.5 years starting from 1st January 2020 to 30th June 2021. Women between 20 -75 years of age group were included in the study. Cervical smears were taken by obstetrics and gynaecology department and were received at pathology department, stained by using rapid Papanicolaou staining technique and studied by using light microscopy.Results: we studied total 766 cases out of which 26(3.40%) smears were unsatisfactory for evaluation. Out of these 740 cases, most common were inflammatory lesions-382 cases (49.86%).Cervical epithelial cell abnormalities including ASCUS-5 cases (0.67%), ASC-H -2 cases (0.24%), LSIL- 6 cases (0.78%), HSIL-1 case (0.13%) and AGC-NOS – 1 case (0.13%) were detected in our study. Majority of the cases were belonging to 31-40 years of age group -364 cases(47.50%) followed by 41-50 years-260 cases (33.94%).Conclusion: Pap smear is an easy, simple, safe and noninvasive method of cervical examination. By using Pap smear as a screening test, it is possible to detect malignant lesions at an earlier stage.