Modified Papanicolaou staining protocol with minimum alcohol use: a cost-cutting measure for resource-limited settings.

Objective: To devise a simple, cost-effective protocol for Papanicolaou (Pap) staining of cervicovaginal smears.

Methods: Five hundred coded paired cervical smears were collected from women as part of routine cervical cancer screening. One set of smears was stained by conventional Pap staining protocol (CP) and the other by a modified protocol (MP) in which alcohol was replaced by 1% acetic acid in all the steps except during fixation and prior to mounting; in addition, one alcohol-based counterstain, OG, was omitted.

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.

Study Design: 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.

Outcome of "Atypical squamous cells" in a cervical cytology screening program: implications for follow up in resource limited settings.

(1) To study the incidence and outcome of "Atypical squamous cells (ASC)" diagnosis in a hospital based cytology screening programme. (2) To work out a feasible strategy for follow up of Atypical squamous cells-undetermined significance (ASC-US) and Atypical squamous cells-cannot exclude high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H) in resource limited settings. A total of 29,475 women were screened cytologically through Pap tests.

Age trends in pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions of the uterine cervix in a cytology screening programme: what should be the target age group for a major thrust of screening in resource-limited settings?

Objective: To identify the target age group where screening efforts may be concentrated in order to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in resource-limited countries.

Study Design: The results of cyto-screening in a hospital-based screening programme for early detection of cervical cancer were analysed retrospectively. The frequency of epithelial cell abnormalities (ECAs) was computed in different age groups.

Spectrum of epithelial cell abnormalities of uterine cervix in a cervical cancer screening programme: implications for resource limited settings.

Objective: (1) To compute the frequencies and peak age incidences of epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) of uterine cervix in a cytology-based screening programme and (2) to analyze the comparative frequencies of squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) and malignancies in age groups <40 and > or =40 years, in order to assess the implications for screening protocol in resource limited settings.

Study Design: Pap smears form 29,475 women were cytologically screened over a 4-year period as a part of hospital-based screening programme. The frequencies, peak age incidences and mean age of various ECA detected were computed.