Comparison of Pap smear result between premenopausal and postmenopausal women

Abstract

Across Iraq, the incidence of cervical cancer is in the downward trend although it remains to be a significant public concern for women in the country. Pap smear is a test developed to determine the premalignant lesions of cervical cancer, and thus it can be described as a screening tool which is employed for early detection of cervical cancer. Old age is associated with a high prevalence of cervical cancer thus screening is advised at a young age to decrease the incidence of cervical cancer. The aim of this study is that to review the pap smears and find out the results and that established prevalence of pre-malignant and malignant lesions. For this study, a retrospective examination was instituted at the Department of Pathology, Al-Nahrain University in a full year (2017) in which all the Pap smears data for the whole year was encompassed. The study was able to review 900 Pap smears, in which 59 percent of this was obtained from the premenopausal women, and 41 percent of the Pap smears were gotten from the postmenopausal women. The results of the present study were established that the prevalence of pre-malignant and malignant lesions was common across the women in their postmenopausal age in comparison to those in premenopausal age cluster. In this process a lot of inhibiting features for reporting recorded which including drying artifact, background staining, and insufficient fixation. In that case the present study, the incidence of low-grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion is five times higher in women in their pre-menopausal age stage in comparison to their counterpart in the post-menopausal stage. It is evident from the study that squamous intraepithelial lesions are more prevalent among the postmenopausal women in comparison to those still in their premenopausal age stage. The fact is that screening using Pap smear is mandatory for women in either stage to enable early detection and intervention of any epithelial anomalies.