Comparison of cervical smears secured with different instruments.

BACKGROUND

In this presentation we have compared the results from cytologic samples obtained with the cervical brush and Ayre's wooden spatula, against samples obtained with Acellon Combi.

METHODS

One thousand cervical smears were collected. This was a cross-sectional study, where it was decided randomly to use cervical brush for sampling of the endocervix and Ayre's wooden spatula for exocervix or Acellon Combi for both.

RESULTS

The combination of the cervical brush and the wooden spatula yielded an acceptable quantity of columnar cells in 71.6% of the cases, during both endocervical and exocervical sampling, while the Acellon Combi yielded an acceptable quantity in 61.7% of the cases (p<0.01). The combination of brush/spatula yielded an acceptable quantity of squamous cells from samples of endocervix and exocervix in 87.5% cases, while with the Acellon device amounted to 77.4% (p<0.001). Highly significant differences in the state of cellular preservation of samples from endocervix obtained with cervical brush technique were found upon comparison to Acellon group.

CONCLUSIONS

Henceforth, we believe that the use of the cervical brush and the Ayre wooden spatula increases the quantity and preservation of the cells retrieved during cervical smears compared to Acellon Combi.