Application of a New Liquid-Based Procedure (TACAS) for the Screening of Cervical Cancer: A Preliminary Study

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of a new liquid-based cytological procedure in a population screening program for cervix cancer. Subjects and Methods: Subjects were 1,000 women who underwent primary screening at the Kanagawa Health Service Association. The cytological specimens obtained by either cotton stick and Cytobrush (R) or Cervex-Brush (R) were processed using the Thinlayer Advanced Cytology Assay System (TACAS (TM)), following the manufacturer's instructions. Results: (1) Cells were evenly distributed on specimens and stained evenly; (2) shrinkage of cells was 5% based on measurement of the nuclear diameters of granulocytes in comparison with those of the conventional procedure; (3) incidences of cells that occupied the whole area, 1/20 <=, 1/4 <=, 1/4> of the observation fields were 58.8, 26.2, 12.0 and 3.0%, respectively; (4) number of the squamous cells in cases with 1/4> was <5,000, in which specimen cells were correctly obtained from the squamocolumnar junction except in 3 cases (0.3%); (5) bleeding at cellular sampling was 5%, but did not disturb cell analysis; ( 6) inflammation caused by organisms was easily diagnosed; ( 7) detection rate of abnormal cytology was 4.3%, including ASC-US in 2.8% and ASC-H in 0.1%. Conclusion: TACAS is a feasible and useful cytological procedure. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel