Study on Cervical Cancer Screening Using Pap Smear and Related Factors among Women in Dhiraj Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of death in women in developing countries such as India. Papanicolaou (Pap) smear is the most effective and successful screening to identify cervical non-neoplastic lesions as well as lesions with significant epithelial cell abnormalities. Aim: To evaluate the use of Pap smear for detecting premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix and their incidence with respect to age, parity, age at marriage, and contraception in order to prevent mortality from cervical cancer. Materials and methods: This is a prospective study conducted from October 2021 to June 2022. In this study, Pap smears were collected from 620 women and processed by routine Pap staining techniques and reported on the basis of the revised Bethesda system (2014). Results: In our study, out of 620 smears, 27 smears were inadequate. Maximum smears were found in the age range of 41-50 years, in multiparous women who married at age of 22-27 years, and the ones who did not use any contraception. Inflammatory smears formed the majority with 365 (58.89%) smears. Other following epithelial cell abnormalities were also found: Premalignant lesions such as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) (1.9%), atypical squamous cells, HSIL cannot be excluded (ASCH) (0.6%), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) (1.3%), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) (0.59%), and malignant lesions such as cervical squamous cell cancer (0.33%) and atypical glandular cells (AGC) (0.09%). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the incidence of cervical carcinoma can be greatly reduced by using Pap smear examination extensively as it helps not only to analyze the spectrum of cervical lesions but also helps in the early detection of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix, thereby reducing the mortality in such patients.