Morphological analysis of squamous cells in routine Pap smears as a predictor of bone mineral density in asymptomatic women.
OBJECTIVE
The present study attempted to find out possible coherence between morphologic characteristics in Pap smears and bone mineral density (BMD) as measured by DEXA.


METHODS
DEXA measurement (with the result expressed as T-score) was performed in 79 women in whom Pap smears for routine cervical cancer screening were obtained. The smears were grouped into atrophic and mature cell patterns. Using astereological analysis, the mean areas of squamous cells, their nuclei and cytoplasm were estimated.


RESULTS
The mean areas of cells and cytoplasm were significantly lower at lower T-scores (P < 0.01), while the mean areas of nuclei were not (P > 0.5). T-scores were significantly lower in the atrophic cell pattern group (P < 0.001). The study group indicated concurrently high sensitivity of 80.9% and specificity of 78.1%, with positive predictive value of 84.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that a significant number of women with low BMD could be identified parallel with the routine Pap test for cervical cancer screening without additional costs.
Repse-Fokter
Alenka
A
Department of Pathology and Cytology, Celje General Hospital, Oblakova 5, 3000 Celje, Slovenia. alenka.repse-fokter@guest.arnes.si
Fokter
Samo K
SK
Komadina
Radko
R
Stiblar-Martinic
Draga
D
Takac
Iztok
I
D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015519:Bone Density; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D014626:Vaginal Smears