Search

Objective: The interpretation of postmenopausal smears and the gynecological treatment of these patients can often be difficult. The objective of this study was to assess the performance of p16/Ki-67 dual-stained cytology as a triage of ASC-US and LSIL cytology results in postmenopausal women.Methods: All consecutive ASC-US and LSIL smears in one-year period were collected and p16/Ki-67 immunostaining was performed retrospectively. The results were compared with histology results or long-term cytology follow-up in cases with no biopsy.Results: The sensitivity of p16/Ki-67 immunostaining for the detection of CIN2+ and CIN3+ was 57.0% and 85.0%, respectively. The specificity for the detection of CIN2+ was 94.3% and CIN3+ 94.6%. Negative predictive values for the detection of CIN 2+ and CIN 3+ were 96.3% and 99.6%, respectively.Conclusions: Dual p16/Ki-67 immunostaining is a useful additional method in postmenopausal patients with low grade cytology. Considering the high specificity and negative predictive value in our study, we believe that it could be helpful in avoiding unnecessary referrals to colposcopy and thus reduce the cost of the program.