A comparison of cytological and parasitological methods in the diagnosis of Trichomonas vaginalis.

Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis), which causes urogenital system infections in humans, develops symptomatically and asymptomatically. T. vaginalis in females is diagnosed using direct microscopy, Giemsa staining, and cultivation methods for examination of samples derived from the vaginal posterior fornix. Serologic methods can also be employed. In cytological diagnosis, the ectocervical smear is examined using the Papanicolaou (PAPS) stain. The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of the methods used in cytological and parasitological diagnosis. For this purpose, 506 female patients who visited the Obstetrics and Gynecology policlinic of the Academic Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine, Inönü University during a course of six years were involved in this study. The samples derived from the vaginal posterior fornix were examined in the parasitology laboratory, while the ectocervical samples were examined in the cytology laboratory. T. vaginalis was detected in 4.6% of the samples examined in parasitology laboratory, while parasites were found in only 0.9% of the samples taken to the cytology laboratory. The statistical analysis revealed a significant difference (P<0.05). It was concluded that parasitological methods are more sensitive than cytological methods in the diagnosis of T. vaginalis.