Aim: A study to assess the role of visual inspection with acetic acid VIA as an alternative to Pap smear in screening program for cervical cancer in low resource settings. Method: Two hundred and twenty five women in reproductive age group attending the Gynecology department at K.S Hegde Charitable Hospital were enrolled in the study. A Papanicolaou smear and visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid was done. All women then underwent colposcopy using the video colposcope. All patients who tested positive on screening then underwent colposcopy guided biopsy. Pap smear of Low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and above was taken as abnormal. The statistical test used was chi square test and results were computed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12.0. Results: Out of 225 patients, VIA was positive in 27(12%) patients and Pap smear was abnormal in 26(11.7%). There were 15 LSIL, 6 high Grade Squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL) and 5 were squamous cell carcinoma. On biopsy, there were 15 mild dysplasia, 2 moderate dysplasia, 4 severe dysplasia and 3 squamous cancers. Pap smear had a sensitivity of 83%, specificity of 98%, and positive predictive value of 80 % and negative predictive value of 97.9%. VIA had a sensitivity of 70.8%, specificity of 95%, and positive predictive value of 62.9 % and negative predictive value of 96.5%. Conclusion: Since diagnostic values of VIA is comparable to Pap smear, and it performs well in detecting high grade lesion we conclude that VIA can be used as a screening modality for cervical cancer in low resource settings. Keywords: Cervical cancer in low resource settings, Pap smear- colposcopy, visual inspection with acetic acid DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njog.v6i1.5245 NJOG 2011; 6(1): 7-12
Estimating the lost benefits of not implementing a visual inspection with acetic acid screen and treat strategy for cervical cancer prevention in South Africa
