Cytomorphological spectrum of cervical smears in a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in women worldwide. Invasive cervical carcinomas are preceded by a stage in which the abnormal cells are confined to the epithelium (Intraepithelial stage). Women can be routinely screened for intraepithelial stage with cervical cytology smears and hence invasive stage can be prevented by early diagnosis. Cervical cytology smears also an useful tool in aiding the diagnosis of infectious and inflammatory conditions of the cervix. Objectives: To evaluate the cytomorphological spectrum of cervical smears referred to a tertiary hospital. Materials and Methods: It is a retrospective observational study. Clinical data and pap smear cytology reports were obtained from the archives during the period of May 2018-May 2019(1 year study). All smears were reported as per "Bethesda system of reporting cervical cytology " 2001. Results : A total of 1241 cases were examined. The age group of patients ranged between 18yrs to 75 yrs. A total of 1203 cases (97%) were reported as Negative for intraepithelial lesions/malignancy, out of which 124 cases(0.1%) showed vaginal candidiasis, 56 cases (0.05%) were reported as Trichomonas vaginalis infection, 321 cases (0.26%) as Bacterial vaginosis, 1 case of HSV infection associated changes, 67 cases(0.05%) were reported as inflammatory smears. 38 cases showed abnormality, out of which 29 cases were of ASC-US,3 cases of LSIL, 3 cases were reported as HSIL, 2 cases as Squamous cell carcinoma and 1 case with adenocarcinoma cervix. Conclusion: Cervical inflammatory lesions (including infections) and neoplastic lesions (includes intraepithelial and epithelial malignancies) can be diagnosed by Cervical cytological smears.