Adequacy Criteria and Cytomorphological Changes in Liqui-Prep TM versus Conventional Cervical Cytology.

Background: The subject of adequacy in cervical smears has an essential role in the prevention of cervical cancer deaths. The predicament of establishing exactly what constitutes an adequate sample has received increasing attention in recent years. In this study, we tried to compare specimen adequacy and cytomorphological changes between conventional cervical and liquid based cytology “ Liqui-PREP TM”. Material and methods: A total of 170 asymptomatic women who undergo annual screening, were examined in cytopathology and gynecology departments (Al-Zahra Hospital of Isfahan University, Iran) during August 2008 to December 2008. Among which 153 cases, 93 cases: pre-menopause and 60 cases: post menopause women were subsequently selected. The conventional smears (CS) and Liquid-Based slides (LBS) using Liqui-PREP TM technique taken from each patient were evaluated carefully by a professional cytopathologist. The number of endocervical and transional zoneʹs cells per slide, covering diagnostic squamous cells (%) and degenerated cells per high power microscopic field (HPF) were also counted. Other cytomorphological changes evaluated for postmenopausal women were included: number of eosinophilic pyknotic cells and spindled cells, basophilic globules (per HPF) and the presences of basophilic filaments (+/-).SPSS software was used for data analysis using indices of frequency percent, mean, and standard deviation for descriptive analysis. Results: Mean of the patientsʹ age was 42.28 which ranged from 20 to 67 years. The numbers of satisfactory cases with CS were 30 (31.9%) compared to 58 (62.4%) with the LBC (P < 0.0001). Data for menopausal women included respectively: 11 (18.30%) and 39 (65%) and the P < 0.0001. A significant difference was observed two methods in the number of degenerated cells and the amount of slide coverage by squamous cells in both age groups (P=0.0001) but bet the quantitative amount of endocervical cells was more in CS method rather than LBC method (P=0.0001). Other morphologic changes (variations) assessed in menopause age group included:eosinophilic pyknotic cells, basophilic globules, spindled cells, and basophilic filaments which demonstrated a significant difference between two methods. The basophilic filaments were evaluated qualitatively as positive and negative. In CS 13 cases (21.7%) were negative and 47 ones (78.3%) were positive for filaments. All 13 negative cases in CS method were negative in LBC method also. But out of the 47 positive cases in LBC method, 13 cases (21.7%) were positive and 47 cases (78.7%) were negative (P value = 0.0001). Conclusion: 1. Liquid-PREP TM is a straight-forward cytological procedure, relying on classic cell handling procedures. 2. Cellular material is encapsulated in a matrix material that assures quantitative, robust adherence to the slide. 3. The number of cells transferred to the slide is controlled by the cytologist. 4. Liquid-PREP TM is not expensive.