Micronucleus scoring: a potential adjunct for diagnosis of endometrial adenocarcinoma on cervical samples

Micronucleus (MN) is an additional, small nucleus formed due to failure of incorporation of a fragment or the whole chromosome into the main daughter nuclei during cell division. MN scoring is a useful indicator of exposure to genotoxic agents and of malignancy. This study was conducted to know whether the MN score was significantly different in cervical cytology smears of patients with endometrial carcinoma, atypical and benign cells. Three groups of cervical smears were taken up for MN scoring: Group 'A' included benign endometrial cells, Group 'B', atypical glandular cells - endometrial and Group 'C', endometrial adenocarcinoma. Post hoc analysis of variance test was used to determine significant differences between the three groups. There were 30 cases in Group 'A', 31 cases in Group 'B' and 39 cases in Group 'C'. The mean MN score was 0.67 ± 0.711 in Group A, 1.74 ± 0.930 in Group B and 4.10 ± 2.500 in Group C. MN scores were significantly different between all three groups (p < 0.05). The MN score is significantly higher in cervical smears of patients with endometrial carcinoma; as compared to smears showing atypical and benign cells and that this finding may be useful for further research.