Spectrum of cervicovaginal Pap smears in newly established tertiary care medical institute.

Objectives: We undertook this study to find out the spectrum of the cervical smear pattern along with the clinical profiles of patients who underwent cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smear evaluation in our newly started tertiary care center. We also tried to find the possible clinical cause for unsatisfactory smears and factors for epithelial cell abnormality.

Material and methods: The present study was a retrospective observational study. Pap smears cases with their clinical findings mentioned on the requisition form and cytopathology observations were retrieved from the archives of the department of pathology. Fisher's exact test was used for statistical analysis.

Results: Five hundred and ninety-four cases were included in the study. The most common age group was 36- 40 years. White discharge per vaginum was the most common clinical presentation. The negative for squamous intraepithelial lesions or malignancy was the most common interpretation (86.87%). Cervical erosion had statistically significant associations with unsatisfactory smears, while bacterial vaginosis had with satisfactory smears. Epithelial cell abnormality was seen in 4.62% patients. We observed a statistically significant association of cervical mucoid discharge, and inflammation with "no epithelial cell abnormality" cases, while postmenopausal bleeding was associated with "epithelial cell abnormality" cases.

Conclusion: In the presence of clinical factors like cervical erosion, which may affect the quality of Pap smear, proper sampling techniques are to be used by health-care providers. The careful evaluation of Pap smears, especially in cases of cervical mucoid discharge, postmenopausal bleeding, and inflammatory smears is required to ensure that epithelial cell abnormalities are not overlooked.