title: Evaluation of visual inspection with acetic acid as a feasible screening test for cervical neoplasia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Alternative methods for cervical cancer screening have been sought. One method, direct visualization with acetic acid (VIA), has proven itself in many clinical trials as an adequate alternative to Pap-smears in developing countries. This study was designed to assess if visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA test) could be an appropriate alternative method for cervical cancer screening. Therefore, we compared VIA, as a stand-alone test, with the gold standard test (colposcopy) in detecting significant cervical pathology in our setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study population consisted of the women who attended the Gynecological Clinic in Ghaem Hospital from April 2008 to April 2009. All of them were tested with VIA. Then, 100 test-positive women and 100 test-negative women were randomly selected and underwent cytology and colposcopy. Cervical biopsies were conducted for the women with abnormal colposcopic findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated for each test and then were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-nine women in the VIA-positive group and 61 women in the VIA-negative group had abnormal cytology. After studying the biopsies, 58 women with positive VIA, and two women with negative VIA had a final diagnosis of dysplasia. Positive predictive value for VIA and cytology were 58% and 33%, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study indicate that VIA may be a useful and feasible alternative screening test for cervical precancerous and cancerous lesions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. hasanzademofradm@mums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Malihe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hasanzadeh
authors.forename: Habibollah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Esmaeili
authors.forename: Samane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tabaee
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Samadi
mesh_terms: D019342:Acetic Acid; D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D003127:Colposcopy; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003581:Cytodiagnosis; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D019342:Acetic Acid