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Updated: May 23, 2026
Collection, Isolation, and Flow Cytometric Analysis of Human Endocervical Samples
Published on: July 6, 2014
Comparative Analysis of Quality of Cell Collected from the Cervix: Conventional versus Liquid-Based Cytology
Flavia Salomão D' Avila Curi1, Adriana Bittencourt Campaner1, Ana Carolina Alves Rosario De Sica1
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Santa Casa de Sao Paulo School of Medical Sciences, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Objectives:
To compare the qualitative and quantitative differences in several cell types between conventional cytology and liquid-based cytology samples in patients diagnosed with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.
Methods:
A prospective, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted with 84 female patients at Santa Casa de Misericórdia de São Paulo Hospital (São Paulo, Brazil) between May 2019 and November 2020. Patients who underwent colposcopy-guided biopsy and were subsequently diagnosed with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia were included in this study. After the patients' selection, relevant information, conventional cytology, and liquid-based cytology samples were collected in the same session.
Results:
Liquid-based cytology presented less neutrophilic infiltrate and a clean background, when compared to conventional cytology. We observed a larger amount of cell types (mature, basal, metaplastic, endocervical cells) in conventional cytology when compared to liquid-based cytology, with statistically significant results in all four cell types. We also observed a concordance rate of 90.6% in the cytological diagnosis between conventional and liquid-based cytologies.
Conclusion:
Even though we found a greater amount of cells in conventional cytology, the diagnostic accuracy of both cytologies is similar. Therefore, in places in where conventional cytology is employed as the main screening method, a proper diagnosis is achieved.
