Liquid-based preparation in cervical cytology screening

The conventional smear has been very useful in detecting pre-cancerous lesions of the cervix. In recent years the UK screening programme has resulted in a 7% reduction annually in invasive cervical carcinoma. However the conventional smear has many limitations including a significant false negative and false positive rate and a significant unsatisfactory rate. Specimen quality is a problem with conventional Pap smears, with the presence of blood, inflammation and mucus often obscuring potential diagnostic cells leading to an unacceptably high unsatisfactory and suboptimal rate. In an attempt to address these limitations associated with the conventional smear various new techniques of smear preparation and screening have been developed.