Cytomorphological study of pap smear and its efficacy to detect various cervical lesions

: Cervical lesions require screening for early diagnosis to differentiate between non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of cervix. The present research aimed to evaluate the prevalence of various cervical lesions and detect the efficacy as a screening test of pap smear for early diagnosis of cervical lesions. : The current retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Pathology, SSMC, Rewa, M.P. Total 658 cervical pap smears were retrieved, re-examined and re-classified according to the revised Bethesda system for reporting of cervical cytology, 2014. Out of 658 pap smears, 234 biopsies were available, which were re-examined histopathologically and correlation was done with their corresponding cytological findings.: Out of 658 pap smears, negative for intraepithelial lesion or malignancy (NILM) was found in 74.47% smears, while the prevalence of epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) was 24.32%. Amongst ECA, most common (11.86%) cervical lesion was low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL). Diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy for the diagnosis of pre-invasive and invasive cervical lesions was found 70.54%, 81.9%, 82.72%, 69.35% and 75.6% respectively.: The current study showed that pap smear cytology is able to detect various cervical lesions with a diagnostic accuracy of 75.6%. So, women belonging to reproductive or postmenopausal age-group should be routinely screened for cervical lesions by non-invasive pap smear method. Conclusively, early diagnosis of cervical lesions is possible, thus reducing the incidence of invasive cervical carcinoma.