A Comparison of Fluid-Based Thin Layer Papanicolaou Smear and Conventional Pap Smear

Background and Because of the importance of early diagnosis of cervical cancer and high false negative results of conventional smear method, several studies have been performed to find a more appropriate test in recent years. Fluid-based methods especially thin prep are considered to have the highest potential to reduce the false negative results and to increase the adequacy of specimens. The purpose of this study was to compare the Papanicolaou fluid-based thin layer smear with conventional pap smear in term of adequacy of specimen. Ïn this prospective study, the results of 120 thin layer smears were compared with 120 conventional pap smears. Çervix brush was used to prepare the samples of papanicolao and thin prep. The smears were interpreted using Bethesda system. The number of SBL (Satisfactory but limited) in thin layer method and conventional pap smear were 11.9% and 39.2%, respectively. The number of unsatisfactory was 4.2% in the thin layer method compared with 9.2% in the conventional method. The reduction of satisfactory in thin layer method was not statistically significant (P>0.05), but the reduction of SBL (P<0.05) and increasing of satisfactory in thin prep method was statistically significant (P<0.05).Çonclusion: The results demonstrated that fluid-based thin layer method may improve the adequacy of specimen and in turn lead to reduction of unsatisfactory and SBL cases.