Publication:

Comparison and correlation of visual inspection with acetic acid, papanicolaou smear and colposcopy in detection of precancerous cervical lesions

Background Cervical cancer is a huge emotional and financial burden on society. To curb the disease, there is a need to develop a screening test that has good sensitivity and specificity. The present study is aimed to compare the effectiveness of the Pap smear, visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and colposcopy for mass screening of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix. The objective of this study was to screen women of 30-45 years of age for precancerous cervical lesions with VIA, Pap smear and colposcopy. And compare and correlate the findings of Pap smear, colposcopy and VIA in detecting precancerous lesions of cervix.

Methods This was a prospective observational study conducted from 1 January 2015 till 1 June 2016 (36 months) in OPD, department of obstetrics and gynaecology among 500 women of 30-45 years. of age group. Pap smear was performed by the conventional method and then VIA was carried out for all; colposcopy was done in all VIA positive patients.

Results Out of 500 study group, 364 (72.8%) women were VIA negative and 136 (27.2%) were VIA positive. Pap results in VIA negative women were either NILM or normal, none was with intraepithelial lesions. Out of 136 VIA positive women 42 (34%) pap results were LSIL or HSIL and on colposcopy 59 (44.7%) women had CIN I/II/III.

Conclusions These results establish VIA as an effective screening test for cancerous and precancerous conditions of the cervix and thus VIA can be implemented as a single primary screening method. Colposcopy can further interpret the VIA positive lesion with almost 100 % sensitivity, specificity, NPV in high grade lesions.