[Anal cytology as a screening method for early detection of anal cancer: are hydrophilic cotton smears really unsatisfactory?].
OBJECTIVE
To test the ability of analpaps performed with cotton swab smears to produce satisfactory cytologic readings as compared to traditional sampling materials.


METHODS
318 consecutive patients were examined at the Ambulatório Araújo Lima of Hospital Universitario Getúlio Vargas in the Anal Cancer Prevention Week and were sampled for the performance of analpap. 180 of these patients were randomly sorted to be sampled by either one of the following materials: cytologic brush, dacron swab or cotton swab. The ability of cotton in producing satisfactory anal cytologic readings as compared to dacron and cytologic brush was analised.


RESULTS
There was no statistical difference among the materials employed in the ability to produce satisfactory citological readings in analpaps. (p > 0.05)


CONCLUSIONS
Our results showed that cotton swabs were as efficient as dacron swabs or cytologic brushes in the ability to produce satisfactory analpap readings.
da Costa e Silva
Ivan Tramujas
IT
Departamento de Clínica Ciruŕgica da UFAM. tramujas@internext.com.br
Gimenez
Felicidad Santos
FS
Guimarães
Ricardo Alexandre Gonçalves
RA
Camelo
Romildo Torres
RT
Melo
Manoel Nilzomar Damasceno
MN
de Barros
Flávio Silveira
FS
Daumas
Adriana
A
Cabral
Celso Rômulo Barbosa
CR
Guimarães
Erica Liberato
EL
D001003:Anal Canal / Q000473:pathology*; D001005:Anus Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D032561:Cotton Fiber; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results