Utility of cervical pap smears in screening of postmenopausal women

Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable and curable cancer. The papanicolaou cervical cytology test is capable of detecting cervical cancer at an early stage and is widely used in developed countries, where it has decreased both the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer. Therefore, it is important to investigate the significance of screening in postmenopausal women. Objectives of the study: To study the cytomorphology of different cervical lesions among postmenopausal women. To determine the significance of cervical cancer screening in symptomatic and asymptomatic postmenopausal women. Materials and Methods: A prospective study of one year duration from January 2017 to December 2017 was conducted in the department of pathology of our institution. The conventional cervical pap smears of postmenopausal women were obtained from the department of gynaecology and reported according to the 2014 Bethesda system. Results: Out of the 198 smears of postmenopausal women screened, 17 (8.6%) were normal smears, 12 (6.1%) were atropic, 97(48.9%) were inflammatory smears. Atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) were 31(15.7%) cases, 10(5.1%) were reactive cellular changes associated with inflammation, 06 (3.0%) were low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 08 (4.0%) were high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) and 01 (0.5%) case of squamous cell carcinoma was observed in our study. 16(8.1%) smears were unsatisfactory for evaluation. Conclusion: The risk of cervical cancer increases as the age advances, therefore postmenopausal women should be screened with cervical Pap smears for early detection and better management.