Authors : Kurra Sai Pujitha, Subhashish Das, Sheela S. R
DOI : 10.18231/j.achr.2019.061
Volume : 4
Issue : 4
Year : 2019
Page No : 324-327
Introduction and objectives: Cervical cancer is the 2nd leading cause of female cancer death in India.
The Papanicolau (PAP) smear is the most successful screening test for carcinoma, since its introduction the
national death from cervical cancer has dropped by 70%. In rural India, pregnancy may be the only reason
for women to undergo PAP smear examination to rule out any associated cervical lesions. Hence, our study
based on cervical cancer screening will help in achieving the objectives of National Cancer Screening
Programme.
Materials and Methods: 137 antenatal cases were taken from the department of Obstetrics and
Gynaecology of our institute. It was a cross-sectional study with 18 months duration.
Results: Among 137patient studies, mean age under the study was 24.17years, most of them were in
their third trimester.16.05% cases were younger than 20 years of age and large proportion of 32.11% was
between 21-23 years of age. Most of the subjects (75.9%) were married above 18 years and 48.2% were
primipara, 56.2% belongs to low socioeconomic status, 45.3% were uneducated and only 32.1% were
aware of pap smear. None of the pap smears reported any intraepithelial lesion.
Interpretation and Conclusion: Women having cervical lesions during initial screening were asked to
revisit for further detailed evaluation. In cases of high grade dysplasia or in the presence of cervical cancer
treatment should be initiated at the earliest. Hence, our study based on cervical screening programme using
PAP smears will help to sensitize and create awareness among the rural population regarding prevention of
carcinoma of cervix and thereby contribute towards the National Cervical Screening Programme.
Keywords: Pap, CIN, Carcinoma cervix.