Abstract :
Introduction: One of the most prevalent cancers, cervical cancer is also the leading cause of mortality for women in underdeveloped nations. A fundamental test for finding infections and precancerous diseases is the Papanicolaou smear. This study aims to comprehend the function of cervical screening in detecting premalignant, malignant, and non-neoplastic lesions as well as the prevalence of different lesions in women who received a traditional pap smear technique.
Materials and Methods: We screened women in the age group of 15-70 years who attended the Outpatient department of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology department of AIIMS, Kalyani. All women who gave consent for screening by Pap smear test were included.
Results: Of 2133 cases, most of the cases were benign comprising of Negative for Intraepithelial Lesion or malignancy (NILM) of about 1989 (93.24%) cases, 705 (33.05%) inflammatory. Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance in 44 cases (2.06%), Atypical squamous cells cannot exclude HSIL in 3 (0.14%), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) in 11 (0.52%), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) in 5 (0.23%) women and Atypical glandular cell in 7 (0.33%). Out of 202 asymptomatic women (9.47%), 12 cases (0.56%) showed epithelial cell abnormality (8 ASCUS, 2 LSIL, 1 ASCH, 1HSIL) (Odds ratio=0.5056, Significance level, P=0.0362).
Conclusions: Conventional Pap smear test is a very easy and cheap diagnostic tool to detect premalignant, malignant, and non-neoplastic lesions and the prevalence of various lesions. As per the American Cancer Society (ACS), a pap smear should start from 25 years to be done till 65 years (repeated after every 3 years).
Keyword :
Cervix cancer, Papanicolaou smear, Highgrade squamous intraepithelial lesion, Lowgrade squamous intraepithelial lesion, Routine screening, Asymptomatic women