Evaluation of cervicovaginal smear results at postmenopausal period

Abstract

<p>This study evaluates the statistical analysis of cervicovaginal smear results at postmenopausal period accompanied by literature. Cervicovaginal smear results of 894 postmenopausal women were evaluated retrospectively according to the 2001 Bethesda system (BS) in Adana Numune Training and Research Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic from 2007–2010. The study found, normal results on 287 patients (32.1%), benign findings on 556 patients (62.2%), abnormal epithelial cell changes on 48 patients (5.36%) and malignant changes on 3 patients (0.33%). The abnormal epithelial changes were observed to be atypical cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) for 22 patients (2.46%), <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/high-grade+squamous+intraepithelial+lesion">low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion</a> (LSIL) for 11 patients (1.23%), <a href="http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/high-grade+squamous+intraepithelial+lesion">high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion</a> (HSIL) for 7 patients (0.78%), findings that cannot exclude a high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H) for 6 patients (0.55%) and atypical glandular cells-not otherwise specified (AGC-NOS) for 2 patients (0.22%). Malignant results were 2 squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) (0.22%) and 1 adenocarcinoma (ACC) (0.11%). Cervical cancer screening programs should be expanded and Pap smear screening should be applied to all postmenopausal women. The longer time span involved from premalignant lesions to cancer improves our chance for the diagnosis and treatment. As the incidence of invasive cancer increases in menopausal period, gynecological smear examination and regular check-up are crucial. A high rate of abnormalities of epithelial cells was detected in this study.</p><p> </p>