Comparison between Conventional Cytology and Liquid-Based Cytology in the Tertiary Brazilian Navy Hospital in Rio de Janeiro

Introduction: Cervical cancer screening is an important tool in public health. Liquid-based cytology (LBC) has been performed at the studied hospital for 7 years. The present study compares the performance of 2 LBC techniques with conventional cytology. Objective: Our objective is to verify the sensitivity for the detection of neoplastic and preneoplastic epithelial atypia, as well as the positive predictive value of the 3 methodologies. Methods: We analyzed retrospectively 24,529 cases and evaluated the conventional cytology, ThinPrep®, and BD SurePath® performance categorizing the results according to the Bethesda system. We also compared the level of unsatisfactory samples, the presence of elements from the squamocolumnar junction, and the detection of pathogenic microorganisms. Results: ThinPrep® (1.43%) showed superior sensitivity over BD SurePath® (0.91%) and conventional cytology (0.71%) in terms of the detection of high-grade lesions; however, in terms of squamous atypia as a whole (ASC-US+), BD SurePath® (6.44%) proved to be more sensitive than conventional cytology (5.28%) and ThinPrep® (3.73%). Conclusions: The results show the advantage of implementing LBC in routine screening for cervical lesions. In this study, BD SurePath® achieved the overall best performance considering the studied variables.