Preliminary Study of a New, Fully Automated System for Liquid-Based Cytology: The NovaPrep® Processor System

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate a fully automated system for liquid-based cytology (LBC): the NovaPrep® Processor System (NPS), which is based on the new concept of double decantation, versus conventional cytology (CC), the gold standard for cytology. Study Design: We performed a preliminary comparative study involving 1,129 female patients who underwent sampling for a Pap test; the sample was first smeared for CC and then, using the remaining specimen on the brush, for LBC with the NPS. The performances of CC and NPS were evaluated for accuracy and compared using the gold standard of a combination of one of the two methods of pathological cytology with screening for positive human papilloma virus, quantification of cells (normal and pathological), and improvement in the quality of samples and reading time. Results: The results showed improvement in sensitivity (3.81% for CC vs. 4.52% for NPS) with a specificity superior to 90% for both, a markedly decreased number of unsatisfactory specimens, notably samples containing too many inflamed cells (7.4% for CC vs. 0.5% for NPS), and a shortening of the reading time, which was three times less using NPS. Conclusion: This preliminary study showed a gain in sensitivity, a drop in the number of unsatisfactory specimens and a reduction in reading time with NPS. The results achieved using this fully automated LBC procedure are very promising and will hopefully reduce the overall cost of cervical cancer screening in the future.

Evaluation of a New Automated Processing System (TACAS™ Pro) for Liquid-Based Procedures

“…Dowie et al [13] said that nearly 1 min was saved after being accustomed to read the LBP. López-Cuervo et al [14] reported that the average reading time was 3.05 min in their last series of 197 cases using the NovaPrep® processor system, although they did not compare them with conventional smears. …”

Role of p16/INK4a and Ki-67 as specific biomarkers for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: An institutional study

“…[ 3 ] Cervical carcinoma screening has been performed for more than 50 years by the conventional Pap smears, which has substantially reduced the incidence of cervical neoplasia, especially in developed countries by successfully identifying the asymptomatic women with preneoplastic lesions and early cervical neoplasia. [ 4 ]…”