Reduced alcohol use in the staining of Pap smears: a satisfactory low-cost protocol for cervical cancer screening.
OBJECTIVE
To describe a low-cost Papanicolaou staining procedure that can be applied to conventional and monolayer gynecologic preparations.


METHODS
The amount of alcohol consumed in the procedure, which normally accounts for > 80% of the cost of processing, was reduced drastically by (1) using only 1 modified cytoplasmic counterstain (EA type), thereby (2) reducing the number of alcohol rinses by over half Orange-G dye is omitted.


RESULTS
The resultant effect of the modified staining protocol is quite satisfactory and attractive to screening eyes: nuclear details are sharp and crisp, while the cytoplasm contains transparent differential staining with blue-green and pink.


CONCLUSIONS
A reduction in the cost of staining should encourage cervical cancer screening, especially in developing countries, where cost is a limiting factor, thus making it possible for more women to be screened without increasing the cost of the program.
Akinremi
Titilola O
TO
Department of Pathology, Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Nigeria. bakinremi@aol.com
Nazeer
Saloney
S
Tötsch
Martin
M
D001391:Azo Compounds; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000191:economics; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D000431:Ethanol / Q000191:economics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D000432:Methanol / Q000191:economics; D009549:Nigeria; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards
D001391:Azo Compounds; D004396:Coloring Agents; C008710:Orange G; D000431:Ethanol; D000432:Methanol