Cervical Cytology in Sagamu Nigeria

Abstract

Cervical cancer is the commonest female genital tract cancer and second to breast in cancer deaths worldwide. In sub-Saharan Africa it is the commonest cancer and most common cause of cancer deaths in women. The incidence keeps declining in the advanced and industrialized countries of the world due to effective screening programme. The gold standard tool for effective screening programme is the cytology based Pap smear test. The human and material requirements for Pap smear and cytology make it less practicable for effective coverage in poor resource countries thus resulting in less than 5% of women needing screening being covered. The incidence of CIN has been variously quoted between 2% and 12.5% worldwide. To determine the incidence of CIN in women who attend the well women clinic for cervical cancer screening in our hospital. Case records and cytology results of all women who attended Well Women Clinic of our hospital between January, 2005 and December, 2013 were reviewed and analysed using the SPSS version 16.0 statistical package. Four hundred and sixty-seven women had cervical cancer screening using Pap smear and cytology during the study period. Twenty-nine (6.5%) had smear showing intraepithelial neoplasia and 19 (4.1%) of these were high grade lesions. Finding of 6.5% prevalence rate of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, and with over half of these being high grade lesions in this study, justifies the need to intensify screening of women, especially those in the reproductive age group.

Keywords: Cervical; Cytology; Sagamu; Nigeria.