Tehmina Rehman, Nadira Mamoon, Nadra Sultana.
Cervical cancer screening in northern Pakistan: An appraisal.
J Coll Physicians Surg Pak Jan ;12(10):606-8.

Objective: A retrospective evaluation of results of routine cervical smear examination and comparison with a prospective cervical cancer screening project carried out using standardized technique for smear preparation. Design: An observational and comparative study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Histopathology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) and Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study of 6114 cervical smears at AFIP, over a 5-year period, was carried out. The prospective pilot cancer screening project included 200 women and was carried out at gynaecology department. Smears were prepared using a standardized technique. These smears were evaluated at AFIP and results of both the groups were compared. Results: In the retrospective study the overall positive smears for dysplastic/malignant cells were 84 (1.37%). The prospective pilot cancer screening project showed 4 (2%) smears positive for dysplasia. Comparison of both groups failed to show any significance in the difference between the two (p>0.05). Conclusion: Although this was a limited study, it suggested that a cervical cancer screening programme was unlikely to increase the yield of positive smears in this population. Random screening, as in vogue now was sufficient for early cancer detection in this population.

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