Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of papanicoloau (PAP) Smear and visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) in screening of cervical carcinoma, taking biopsy as gold standard.

Abstract

Study Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. Period: 05 August 2016 to 05 Feb 2017. Material & Methods: A total of 228 suspected patients of cervical carcinoma and age of 20-50 years were included. Patients with acute cervicitis, pregnant females, h/o abnormal cytology and obvious lesion on cervix were excluded. All the patients were underwent papanicoloau (PAP) smear and visual inspection using acetic acid. The results of papanicoloau (PAP) smear and visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) were compared with cervical biopsy report. Results: In 110 papanicoloau (PAP) smear positive patients, 97 were True Positive and 13 were False Positive. Among, 118 papanicoloau (PAP) smear negative patients, 18 were False Negative whereas 100 were True Negative. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of papanicoloau ( PAP )smear in screening of cervical carcinoma was 84.35%, 88.50%, 88.18%, 84.75% and 86.40% respectively. In 114 visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) positive patients, 95 were True Positive and 19 were False Positive. Among, 114 visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) negative patients, 20 were False Negative whereas 94 were True Negative. Overall sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of visual inspection using acetic acid ( VIA) in  screening of cervical carcinoma was 82.61%, 83.19%, 83.33% 82.46% and 82.89% respectively. Conclusion: This study concluded that papanicoloau ( PAP) smear and visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) in screening of cervical carcinoma are highly sensitive, accurate and having almost equal diagnostic accuracy.