Objective: This study aimed to review Papanicolaou (Pap) smears in patients of Shohada hospital in Tehran.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out and a database search of all Pap smear reports from 1995 to 2005 at cytopathology department was reviewed. The abnormal Pap smear reports based on the Bethesda System were assessed.
Results: A total of 13315 Pap smear reports were reviewed from patients aging 20 to 79 years old. Totally 6065 (45.55%) cases had diagnosis of ‘negativeʹ, 293(2.21%) smears were labeled as ‘inadequateʹ, and 6799 (51.06%) reports had ‘Benign cellular changesʹ. There were 158(1.18%) abnormal Pap smears consisting of 84 (53.18%) SIL with undetermined grade (ASC-US), 28(17.73%) low grade SIL (LSIL), 17(10.75%) high grade SIL (HSIL), 27(17.08%) carcinoma and 2(1.26%) atypical glandular cells of undetermined significance (AGUS). Overall incidence of the cervical cancer among these samples was 0.2%. Benign cellular changes numbered 6799(51.06%), of which 5365 (78.9%) smears demonstrated infectious processes.
Conclusion: The number of abnormal pap smears in this study is less than western countries, but is comparable with Middle East and Islamic regions. More prospective studies are recommended.