Comparative analysis of cervical cytology screening methods and staining protocols for detection rate and accurate interpretation of ASC-H: Data from a high-volume laboratory in Turkey.

BACKGROUND

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the ThinPrep(®) Imaging System (TIS) and ThinPrep(®) Pap Stain (TPPS). A comparative analysis was conducted to determine the detection rates of atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H), the ASC:squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) ratio, biopsy follow-up for ASC-H in terms of the screening method used (manual screening [MS] vs. TIS screening [TISS]) and the staining protocol (regular Pap stain [RPS] vs. TPPS).

METHODS

This study was performed over two periods. The RPS period included manually screened slides, whereas the TPPS period included TIS + manually screened slides. All data from the study periods were compared using statistical analysis.

RESULTS

The detection rate of ASC-H was significantly higher during the TPPS period than during the RPS period (0.49% vs. 0.23%); this finding is in contrast to the insignificant difference between the screening method periods. The positive predictive value (PPV) of ASC-H cytodiagnosis for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 2 or more severe histologies was significantly different between manually screened and TIS slides (22.10% vs. 38.55%), in contrast to an insignificant difference between RPS and TPPS periods (37.14% vs. 29.77%).

CONCLUSION

Implementation of the TIS did not change the ASC-H detection rates appreciably. However, the new technology improved PPV for ASC-H cytodiagnosis and enabled the detection of true disease. Our laboratory statistics indicate that the TPPS is not a superior staining protocol and did not increase our diagnostic accuracy for ASC-H compared with RPS.