Cervical cancer, a type of
cancer that develops in a woman’s cervix, is one of the most common malignancy
in women and remains a leading cause of cancer-related death for women
worldwide, especially in developing countries. It is usually caused by a virus
called human papillomavirus (HPV) and the virus spreads through sexual contact.
Due to cervical cancer often has no symptoms in its early stages, it is
important and necessary to use screening for cervical cancer to help detect
early cases and save thousands of lives.
In fact, nowadays, cervical
cancer is highly preventable in most Western countries because screening tests
and a vaccine to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are available. And
it can be one of the most successfully treatable cancers if detected early. And
Pap smear is one of the screening tests.
In this paper, the
authors conducted a prospective study on the cyto-colpohistological comparison
of inflammatory Pap smear screening tests performed in patients in Tunisia. 60
inflammatory smears were collected and all patients had a colposcopy and the
sensitivity of Pap smear in screening for cervical cancer was evaluated. Blood
samples were collected from patients and GST-capture ELISA test was performed.
The authors also conducted the cytology examination of the Pap smears and its resulted
showed that 60 samples were inflammatory. And some tables were listed to show histologic
data for the biopsies tested, distribution of cases upon the analysis of
histology of biopsies and seropositivity against HPV-16 and HPV-18 antigens.
The findings
indicated that six patients (10%) showed a positive reactivity to at least one
of the HPV-16 or HPV-18 antigens and sera showed different reactivity to the
different antigens respectively. And serology was not in itself a diagnostic
method but must be kept in consideration for monitoring patients with a
cervical smear inflammatory and most of them were detected in anti-HPV
antibodies.
In conclusion, the Pap smear, examination of key screening for
cervical cancer, was a screening test without diagnostic value and more
specifically any inflammatory Pap smear should be considered as a positive test
and led to further investigations.
Article by Alfred Chioza and Shoji
Ohga, from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Full access: http://mrw.so/RrSWX
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| Image by Hannah Sue Gray, from Flickr-cc. |
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