BACKGROUNDThe grade of dysplasia on cervical pap smears may be indicated by micronucleus (MN) scoring, much like cancers of oral cavity, urinary bladder and esophagus. METHODSThis is a cross sectional study. MN scores of 106 subjects comprising of all major diagnostic categories included in 'The Bethesda system, 2014 for reporting cervical pap smears' were taken. High grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and invasive carcinoma (IC) were further grouped as 'high-risk' and the rest, 'low-risk' to construct Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve to seek a cut-off delineating the two classes. Analysis of variance was used to determine significance of differences in MN scoring between the various groups. RESULTSDifference of mean MN scores of HSIL (9.4) and IC (10.7) was significant from the low-risk group but not within themselves. A huge difference in MN scores between low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and HSIL is notable. The difference of mean age was significant between high and low risk groups. ROC curve delivered a cut-off of 5.15 to distinguish between the two categories with 85.7% sensitivity, 97.2% specificity and 93.3% accuracy. CONCLUSIONSSequential and significant increase of MN score from low to high grade dysplasia is established by current study. A cut-off of 5.15 MN score adequately detects HSIL and IC. Despite its performance, MN scoring is time-consuming, labour intensive and strenuous process, which might make it difficult to impose on laboratories and pathologists. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE:Roy P, Mahanta TN, Saha D. Does micronucleus score really indicate dysplasia in cervical pap smears? if so, how far? J. Evid. Based Med.

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BACKGROUNDGlobal burden of cancer is on rise and trends and pattern of cancers are rapidly changing in different geographic area and population groups. Epidemiological information on cancer including the pattern is an important basis for determining the priorities for cancer control in any population group. This study is an attempt to know the incidence of cancer in a tertiary care centre of West Bengal. MATERIALS AND METHODSRecord based cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Pathology of IQ City Medical College, Durgapur, West Bengal. Cases confirmed histologically as cancer were studied. RESULTSOut of 2181 biopsies received in the department, 200 patients were diagnosed as having cancer with the male:female ratio of 1.3:1. The overall incidence of cancer was highest 22.5% in age group 61-70 years. In both the sexes combined, cancer of gastrointestinal tract was the most common cancer, and was found in 104 (52%) patients (60 males and 44 females) with predominant involvement of stomach followed by rectum, oesophagus and colon. After gastrointestinal malignancies, breast cancer is the most common malignancy in female and bladder cancer in males. CONCLUSIONThe current study mainly summarizes the different patterns of cancer incidence in the tertiary care center region. Cancer incidence is increasing gradually among the population. Pattern of malignancies in the present study is different from rest of the India.