Single-slide versus double-slide Pap smear: a comparative study.

Comparison of the single-slide versus double-slide Pap smear method was performed using ectocervical and endocervical samples taken with the Ayre spatula and Cytobrush and placed together on one slide or on two separate slides. Eight hundred cases were collected by four different physicians in a gynecologic clinic (100 consecutive cases per doctor per method). All samples were evaluated at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Parameters evaluated were: specimen adequacy, quality and detection of disease. Results for the double-slide method were: 352/400 (88%) satisfactory, 48/400 (12%) satisfactory, but limited, and 0% unsatisfactory cases. Results for the single-slide method were: 347/400 (86.7%) satisfactory, 50/400 (12.5%) satisfactory, but limited, and 3/400 (0.75%) unsatisfactory cases. Results regarding detection of disease were 16/400 (4%) CIN 1/400 (0.25%) carcinomas with the double-slide method as compared to 13/400 (3.25%) CIN and no carcinomas with the single-slide method. No statistically significant differences were found regarding specimen adequacy (P = 0.31), quality (P = 1.00), and detection of disease [CIN (P = 0.71) and carcinomas (P = 1.0)]. These preliminary findings suggest that the single-slide method is as efficacious as the double-slide method, although a larger group of patients with a longer follow-up need to be evaluated.

Stability of malignant breast microcalcifications.

PURPOSE: To determine the frequency of stability in malignant microcalcifications and its relationship to specific histologic diagnoses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During a 34-month period, microcalcifications were proved malignant in 182 patients referred for needle-guided biopsy. In 105 patients, the mammograms were compared with one or more than one previous mammogram. These patients were classified on the basis of interval change in two groups: those with stable and those with increasing or new microcalcifications. The histologic diagnoses were reviewed. RESULTS: Microcalcifications were stable for 8-63 months (mean, 25.4 months) in 26 patients (24.8%), only three (12%) of whom had invasive ductal carcinoma, which was found in 29 (37%) of the 79 patients with increasing or new microcalcifications. CONCLUSION: The odds for presence of invasive ductal carcinoma are statistically significantly lower (P < .025) among patients with stable microcalcifications than among those with increasing or new microcalcifications. Stability of indeterminate or suspicious microcalcifications is unreliable for exclusion of a diagnosis of malignancy.