The The Use of Liquid Based Cytology and Conventional Papanicolaou Smear in Cervical Screening: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The high rate of cervical cancer in women and the inadequacy in its results during diagnosis has necessitated the comparison of the two major techniques used in its diagnosis which are the liquid-based technique and the conventional Pap smear method. The cytological techniques were compared in a group of 300 women who visited Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital for cervical screening. The outcome of the two screening methods was compared with regard to the determination of the specificity and sensitivity of both methods using histopathology as gold standard. Out of the 300 cases screened 38 (12.67%) and 30 (10%) cases were diagnosed as low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion respectively by liquid-based cytology and about 32 (10.67%) and 24 (10%) cases were diagnosed as low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and high-grade intraepithelial lesion respectively on conventional cytology. 250 cases were satisfactory for evaluation using the LBC and 140 cases were found satisfactory on conventional cytology. Sensitivity and specificity of LBC was 100% each and that of conventional cytology were 86% and 97% respectively. From the result above, the study has shown that the LBC gives more satisfactory samples. Though both methods showed high sensitivity and specificity, LBC still has a higher sensitivity and specificity when compared to conventional Pap smear.