• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.108-113
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• 2013

The study compared the cytological features of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) in liquid-based preparations (LBPs) and conventional Pap (CP) smears from fine needle aspiration (FNA), and assessed the feasibility of LBP using the Cell Scan $1500^{TM}$ processor on thyroid FNA samples. Thyroid FNA samples were obtained from 883 consecutive patients. Each sample was divided into two and used for LBPs and CP smears. All were screened independently in a double-blind manner. From the 883 cases, 95 cases were diagnosed as PTC in one or both types of preparation (10.8%). PTC was diagnosed via CP smears in 83 cases (87.4%) and via LBPs in 70 cases (73.7%). However, there were differences in categorization between the paired preparations: Twelve (12) PTCs were misinterpreted in CP smears and 25 PTCs in LBPs. There was a significant discrepancy in the rate of detection of the diagnostic features, with LBPs having a lower detection rate. One (1) case (1.2%) of CP smears and 16 cases (22.9%) of LBPs were categorized as unsatisfactory/nondiagnostic in a total of the 95 PTCs. To conclude, the detection rate of the diagnostic features of PTC is lower in Cell Scan 1500TM samples than in CP smears. However, there are some cases in which a diagnosis of PTC is made in LBPs, but not in CP smears. Therefore, definitive cancer diagnosis in thyroid FNA preparations is likely to result from agreement between direct smears and Cell Scan 1500TM preparations.

• The Korean Journal of Cytopathology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.18-24
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• 2005

The objective of this study was to ascertain whether or not the high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) test, when coupled with Papanicolaou (Pap) smears, would prove useful in the screening and management of patients in whom abnormal Pap smear results had been obtained. Concomitant high-risk HPV detection using the hybrid capture II test and colposcopy with a Pap smear were performed with 176 patients, all of whom had been screened for both cervical carcinoma and precancerous lesions. We concomitantly performed colposcopies on these patients. Upon the follow-ups, the histologic diagnoses of these patients were confirmed via either biopsy or hysterectomy. The rate of high-risk HPV detection was correlated with cytologic diagnoses and colposcopic findings. The group composed of the high-risk HPV-positive ASCUS patients exhibited a 55.7% rate of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), a significantly higher rate than the 7.5% result obtained in the high-risk HPV-negative ASCUS group. HPV test showed high sensitivity (87%) and low specificity (62.6%) in detection of CIN and colposcopy also showed high sensitivity (88%) and low specificity (22%). Any combination of these tests improve sensitivity, but not specificity. High-risk HPV tests, when coupled with Pap smears, constituted a useful triage approach with regard to colposcopy-directed biopsies in patients in whom a cytologic diagnosis of ASCUS had been rendered.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.505-512
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• 2000

Objective : To estimate the significance of the Pap smear as a screening tool for cervical cancer. Methods : A total of 79,840 Pap smear results peformed at Pusan Paik Hospital over the 20 year period from 1979 to 1998 were collected and analyzed. Results : The number of Pap smear cases increased markedly during this period, and the results as a whole were classified as of 96.4% normal and benign cytology, 2.2% pre-cancerous cytology, and 1.4% cervical cancer. The relative frequency of cervical cancer decreased from 1.6% in 1979 to 0.7% in 1998. About 64% of the Pap smears were distributed within the age range of 30 to 49 years, and the rate of cervical cancer increased with age, age of marriage and experience of childbirth (p<0.01). The overall agreement of Pap smear results with histologic diagnosis by one histologic degree was 92.7%(1,128/1,217) with 73 overestimated cases and 16 underestimated cases of Pap smear compared to histologic diagnosis. Conclusion : This result implies that the Pap smear is an excellent screening tool for cervical cancer with respect to both its scale and validity. Periodic and active Pap smear testing would be helpful for the secondary prevention of cervical cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.13
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• pp.5143-5147
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• 2014

Cervical cancer screening in Malaysia is by opportunistic Pap smear which contributes to the low uptake rate. To overcome this, a pilot project called the SIPPS program (translated as information system of Pap smear program) had been introduced whereby women aged 20-65 years old are invited for Pap smear and receive recall to repeat the test. This study aimed at determining which recall method is most cost-effective in getting women to repeat Pap smear. A randomised control trial was conducted where one thousand women were recalled for repeat smear either by registered letter, phone messages, phone call or the usual postal letter. The total cost applied for cost-effectiveness analysis includes the cost of sending letter for first invitation, cost of the recall method and cost of two Pap smears. Cost-effective analysis (CEA) of Pap smear uptake by each recall method was then performed. The uptake of Pap smear by postal letter, registered letters, SMS and phone calls were 18.8%, 20.0%, 21.6% and 34.4%, respectively (p<0.05). The CER for the recall method was lowest by phone call compared to other interventions; RM 69.18 (SD RM 0.14) compared to RM 106.53 (SD RM 0.13), RM 134.02 (SD RM 0.15) and RM 136.38 (SD RM 0.11) for SMS, registered letter and letter, respectively. ICER showed that it is most cost saving if the usual method of recall by postal letter be changed to recall by phone call. The possibility of letter as a recall for repeat Pap smear to reach the women is higher compared to sending SMS or making phone call. However, getting women to do repeat Pap smear is better with phone call which allows direct communication. Despite the high cost of the phone call as a recall method for repeat Pap smear, it is the most cost-effective method compared to others.

• Journal of Korea Association of Health Promotion
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2006

Background : Osteoporosis and atrophic cell pattern in Pap smear are frequent findings In postmenopausal women due to loss of ovarian function, The present study attempted to find out possible correlation between morphologic characteristics of Pap smear and osteoporosis. Material & methods: The subjects were 825 women(age from 35 to 80) who had undergone Pap smear and bone mineral density(BMD) at The Korea Association of Health Promotion, Seoul Branch, from March 8 to May 10, 2005. Pap smears from 825 women were reviewed and classified either mature cell pattern or atrophic cell pattern by their cytologic patterns, BMD were measured using LUNAR DPX MdIQ(Minster, Ohio, USA). BMD value of lumbar spine(Ll, L2,L3 and L4) were measured from 825 women and BMD value of proximal region off emur(neck NK, Wards triangle WT, and trochanter TR) were measured from 818 women and their bone status were classified as normal( T-sore:>-1.0), osteopenia (T-score: -l~<-2,5) and osteoporosis(T-score: ≤ -2.5). And age distribution of Pap smear, average T-value andfrequency ofsteoporo-sis of each region of the bone, percentage of osteoporosis of each boneregion by age group and changing pattern of percentage of osteopenia and osteoporosis in certain postmenopausal period were compared between mature and atrophic cell pattern. Results: Pap smears revealed total mature cell pattern 53,9%(445/825) and total atrophic cell pattern 46.1%(380/825), Percentage of mature cell pattern decreased from 98.2%(168/171)under 44 age group to 13,3%(17/128) over 65 age group and mature cell pattern increased from 1.8%(3/171) under 44 age group to 86.7%(111/128) oyer 65 age group. Mean T-value of each region of lumbar spine and femur of mature cell pattern were lower than that of atrophic cell pattern about -1,5. And osteoporosis has noted in atrophic cell pattern showing odds ratio Ll 13.9, L2 15.3, L3 12.0, L4 10,4, UK 6.7, WT 10.9 and TR 4.1.Atrophic cell pattern started to increase after 45 years of age and osteoporosis of a trophic cell pattern started after 55 years of age. During 50 to 64 years of age period, L3, L4 and WT revealed parallel increased of osteopenia and osteoporosis and Ll, L2 revealed decreased of osteopenia and increased of osteoporosis. nia Conclusion: Above findings suggest that atrophic cell pattern of Pap smear precedes osteoporosis about 10 years and one of predictor of osteoporosis.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.231-239
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• 2001

This paper proposes a region segmenting method for the Pap-smear image. The proposed method uses a pixel classifier based on neural network, which consists of four stages : preprocessing, feature extraction, region segmentation and postprocessing. In the preprocessing stage, brightness value is normalized by histogram stretching. In the feature extraction stage, total 36 features are extracted from $3{\times}3$ or $5{\times}5$ window. In the region segmentation stage, each pixel which is associated with 36 features, is classified into 3 groups : nucleus, cytoplasm and background. The backpropagation network is used for classification. In the postprocessing stage, the pixel, which have been rejected by the above classifier, are re-classified by the relaxation algorithm. It has been shown experimentally that the proposed method finds the nucleus region accurately and it can find the cytoplasm region too.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Intelligent Systems
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.519-524
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• 2006

Segmentation for the region of nucleus in the image of uterine cervical cytodiagnosis is known as the most difficult and important part in the automatic cervical cancer recognition system. In this paper, the region of nucleus is extracted from an image of uterine cervical cytodiagnosis using the fuzzy grey morphology operation. The characteristics of the nucleus are extracted from the analysis of morphemetric features, densitometric features, colormetric features, and textural features based on the detected region of nucleus area. The classification criterion of a nucleus is defined according to the standard categories of the Bethesda system. The enhanced fuzzy ART algorithm is used to the extracted nucleus and the results show that the proposed method is efficient in nucleus recognition and uterine cervical Pap-Smears extraction.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.849-852
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• 2013

Background: Cancer of the uterine cervix is one of the most common cancers among women worldwide. Industrialized countries have dramatically reduced the incidence of mortality from cervical carcinoma in the last 50 years through aggressive screening programs utilizing pelvic examinations and Papanicolaou (Pap) smears but it still remains a major problem in the developing world. Objectives: This study was performed to determine knowledge, attitude and practice of Pap smear as a screening procedure among nurses in a tertiary hospital in north eastern India. Material and Methods: This cross sectional study was carried out with a questionnaire survey covering the socio demographic factors, knowledge, attitude and practices about Pap smear screening among 224 nurses in Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal, Manipur, India during December 2011. Results: Two hundred and twenty one participants (98.6%) had heard about cervical carcinoma but 18.3% lacked adequate knowledge regarding risk factors. Knowledge about the Pap smear was adequate in 88.8% of the respondents. Out of these, only 11.6% had Pap smear at least once previously. The most common reasons for non-participation in screening were lack of any symptoms (58.4%), lack of counselling (42.8%), physician does not request (29.9%) and fear of vaginal examination (20.5%). Conclusion: Although knowledge of Pap smear as a screening procedure for cervical cancer is high, practice is still low. The nurses who should be responsible for opportunistic screening of women they care for are not keen on getting screened themselves. If we can improve the practice of Pap smear screening in such experts, they should be able to readily provide appropriate and accurate information and motivate the general population to join screening programs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.4163-4167
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• 2016

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common in Thailand, but the mortality rate may be rising yearly. It is a cancer that can be prevented by early screening for precancerous lesions, several methods being available. Objective: To identify the prevalence of abnormal Papanicolaou (Pap) smears and lesions with visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in pregnant women and assess risk factors for this group. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was performed at Prapokklao Hospital, Thailand during April-July 2016. All pregnant women of gestational age between 12-36 weeks who attended an antenatal clinic were recruited. All participants were screened for cervical cancer by Pap smear and VIA. If results of one or both were abnormal, colposcopic examination was evaluated by gynecologic oncologist. Results: A total of 414 pregnant women were recruited. Prevalence of abnormal Pap smear and VIA were 6.0 and 6.7 percent, respectively. The most common abnormal Pap smear was low grade intraepithelial lesion (LSIL, 44%). Factors associated with abnormal Pap smear in pregnant women were low BMI, multiple partners and being a government officer. In pregnancy, Pap smear had higher sensitivity and specificity than VIA for detection of precancerous cervical lesion. Patients with young coitarche or more than 25 years of active sexual activity were high risk groups. Conclusions: Prevalence of abnormal Pap smear and VIA in pregnant women was 6.0 and 6.7 percent, respectively. Factors associated with abnormal Pap smear were coitarche, years of sexual activity, low BMI, multiple partners and being a government officer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.21
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• pp.9361-9365
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• 2014

Background: To estimate the pre-vaccination distribution of human papillomavirus (HPV) types among women from urban Tunis. Materials and Methods: A total of 611 women aged 18-69 years were enrolled in three local gynaecological outpatient departments. All underwent a gynaecological examination with Pap test and dry swab for HPV detection and typing performed by linear array genotyping test (Roche). Cytological examination was conducted on conventional Pap smears. Results: HPV DNA was found in 6.5% of the women; the most frequent HPV types were HPV 16 and HPV 11 at 3.27% and 1.96%, respectively. The second most frequent high risk (HR) HPV type was HPV 58 (0.82%) followed by HPV 18, HPV 31 and HPV 33 found in only 0.33% of women. Single infections with HPV types, targeted by the quadrivalent vaccine (6, 11, 16, and 18), were detected in 3.6 % of the study patients (55% of positive women). HPV infection was found in 3.83% of women with normal cytology and in 47.4% of women with cytological abnormalities. No statistically significant trend in prevalence by age group emerged for any HPV type or for high or low risk types. Conclusions: These data show a relatively low prevalence of HPV infection in women from urban Tunis with a high proportion of HPV16 and HPV58. This should be considered in the upcoming screening programs and vaccination strategy.