Utility of imprint cytology for early presumptive diagnosis in clinically suspicious cervical cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the utility of imprint cytology (IC) in providing an early presumptive diagnosis of clinically suspected cervical carcinoma.


METHODS
A total of 219 clinically suspicious cervical cancer cases underwent Pap test, punch biopsy and IC at the same sitting. Correlations were performed between these diagnostic modalities to determine the sensitivity and specificity of IC in diagnosis of cervical cancer.


RESULTS
The overall accuracy of IC in detecting cervical cancers was 96.2%. About 78% of squamous cell carcinomas (SCC), 60% of adenocarcinomas and 100% of small cell carcinoma could be accurately typed on imprints. Twelve malignant lesions were diagnosed on IC among 26 unsatisfactory biopsies. Although there was no false positive result, 3.5% false negative diagnoses were given on IC. The sensitivity and specificity of imprint smear cytology to detect malignancy was 96.2% and 100%. Agreement between imprint cytology and Pap smear diagnosis of malignancy was 95.3%. kappa Statistics revealed excellent agreement between imprints and biopsies and between imprints and Pap smears in diagnosis of malignant lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
IC can be used as an adjunctive technique for an early and reliable preliminary presumptive diagnosis of cancer of the uterine cervix.
Division of Cytopathology, Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Kaushik
K
Halder
Krishan Lal
KL
Chachra
Pushpa
P
Sodhani
Sanjay
S
Gupta
D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D003581:Cytodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears