Ayre v Aylesbury cervical spatulas.
A single blind crossover study compared the traditional Ayre spatula with the new Aylesbury spatula. The study group consisted of all women attending the department of genitourinary medicine during a 16 month period. The same incidence (3.6%) of dyskaryotic smears was found using the Ayre spatula (74/2077) as the Aylesbury spatula (72/2003). The incidence of smears with endocervical cells, however, was significantly greater using the Aylesbury (33.4%) than the Ayre (20.4%) spatulas, despite there being no difference in the incidence of smears with epithelial abnormalities. Quantitative studies thus showed that the Aylesbury gave no more accurate results than the Ayre spatula.
Department of Genitourinary Medicine, General Infirmary, Leeds.
B P
BP
Goorney
C J
CJ
Lacey
J
J
Sutton
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003218:Condylomata Acuminata / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000295:instrumentation*