Evaluation of spectrum of cervical lesions by PAP smear in rural medical college

Abstract

Introduction: Heart of India lies in the rural population and health care systems are reaching many of these rural areas. But still in some of the Indian rural population, measures of health and living standards are low. Rural women are also vulnerable to many risk factors. The incidence of premalignant lesions of cervix may be higher due to these risk factors. Pap smear is the best and economical screening method for detection of cervical premalignant lesions. Objective: To understand the spectrum of lesions and prevalence of precancerous lesion in one of the rural areas in Maharashtra Materials and Methods: All pap smears received in the Department of Pathology, Indian Institute of Medical Science and Research, Warudi, Maharashtra from January 2018 to May 2018 are evaluated and the findings are correlated with age. Results: Out of the 252 cases that were studied, 4.76% of cases (n=12) showed epithelial cell abnormality. 85.7% of cases (n=216) were Negative for Intraepithelial Lesion or Malignancy in which 33.7% cases (n=85) showed inflammation. 8.3% cases (n=21) showed the presence of an organism Conclusion: Pap smear test is the simplest, painless and cost-effective screening tool for cervical cancer. Awareness is needed among the rural population about this gold standard test for cervical cancer screening. Keywords: Awareness, Cervical cytology, Rural population.