What is a Pap (smear) test?

Acta Med Port. 1997 Oct;10(10):637-41

Inflammatory smears in cervicovaginal cytology. A finding meaning infection? Ayres de Campos D, Nogueira A, Magalhaes F, Bayer P, Monteiro J, Lameirao A, Martinez de Oliveira J.

Departamento de Ginecologia e Obstetricia, Hospital de Sao Joao, Porto.

Introduction:

Inflammatory changes are relatively frequent findings in PAP test (cervical smear)s and are generally believed to be a conse quence of genital infection. However, clinical signs of infection are frequently absent and no consensus exists on the management of these patients. The objective of this study was to assess whether or not inflammatory smears are exclusively a conse quence of genital infection. For this purpose, the prevalence of genital infection in a group of women with inflammatory cells in the PAP test (cervical smear) and a control group with normal smears was compared.

Material and

Methods:

Sixty-two regularly menstruating women aged 17 to 48 years, attending the outpatient Gynaecology sector of S. Joao Hospital, were prospectively evaluated. PAP test (cervical smear)s were analysed by the same cytologist who chose 10 inflammatory cells per high power field (400x) as the cut-off value for normality. Infection by Candida spp., Trichomonas vaginalis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Chlamydia trachomatis and bacterial vaginosis was investigated. Human Papillomavirus infection was evaluated by colposcopy and biopsy of abnormal colposcopic findings.

Results:

Thirty-four women and inflammatory cells on their PAP test (cervical smear) and 15 of these (44%) had a genital infection. Of the 28 women with normal smears, 12 (43%) had a genital infection. No statistically significant difference in the prevalence of infection was found between the two groups.

Conclusions:

Our results suggest that the presence of inflammatory cells in PAP test (cervical smear)s is not necessarily due to infection and other causes may be responsible for their appearance.

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