title: Optimal sampling devices for liquid-based procedure in screening for cervical cancer: comparison between cotton stick/Cytobrush and Cervex-Brush.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find an appropriate sampling device for a liquid-based procedure in the population screening for cervical cancer, focusing on bleeding at sampling and the amount of cells smeared.
  
  
  METHODS
  1,000 consecutive women who underwent primary screening were studied. The specimens were obtained with the cotton stick/Cytobrush® method in the first 500 cases or with the Cervex-Brush® in the following 500 subjects, and were processed using the Thinlayer Advanced Cytology Assay System (TACAS™) following the manufacturer's instructions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  (1) Bleeding at cellular sampling using the cotton stick/Cytobrush and Cervex-Brush methods occurred in 1.2 and 8.8% of the cases, respectively (p < 0.0001). (2) The incidences of cells obtained with the two methods which covered the whole area, <1/2 and ≥1/4, and <1/4 of the observation fields were 55.4 versus 62.2% (p < 0.05), 14.6 versus 9.4% (p < 0.05), and 2.0 versus 4.0% (p < 0.05), respectively. (3) The incidences of endocervical or metaplastic cells obtained with ≥500 and <10 were 34.6 versus 20.0% (p < 0.01) and 9.4 versus 18.4% (p < 0.01), respectively. In cases of cells covering <1/4, incidences with <10 were 0 and 0.6% (n = 3), respectively. (4) Detection rates of abnormal cytology were 3.4 and 5.2% (n.s.), including atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance in 2.4 and 3.2%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The cotton stick/Cytobrush is superior to the Cervex-Brush as a cellular sampling device for the TACAS liquid-based procedure.
authors: Department of Cancer Detection for Females, Kanagawa Health Service Association, Yokohama, Japan. Kuramoto@yobouigaku-kanagawa.or.jp
authors: Hiroyuki
authors: H
authors: Kuramoto
authors: Midori
authors: M
authors: Banno
authors: Masuko
authors: M
authors: Hori
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Miyagawa
authors: Manichi
authors: M
authors: Iida
authors: Miwa
authors: M
authors: Kawaguchi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003127:Colposcopy; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008679:Metaplasia; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*