Objective: To investigate the clinical significance and safety of liquid-based cytology (thinprep cytologic test, TCT) in pregnant women and cytological characteristics of the smears during pregnancy.
Methods: TCT were performed in 1951 pregnant women (group A), 3752 gynecological out-patients (group B) and 5069 routine screening women (group C). The age of the women was ranged from 20 to 39 years. The cytological preparations were analyzed using TCT method following the Bathesda system (TBS) standard.
Results: (1) The incidence of abnormal epithelial patterns in groups A, B and C was 23.58% (460/1951), 19.22% (721/3752) and 13.40% (679/5069) respectively (P < 0.01). (2) The incidence of infection in three groups was 19.02% (371/1951), 10.66% (400/3752) and 9.23% (468/5069) respectively (P < 0.05). (3) The incidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in three groups was 1.13%, 1.87% and 0.77% respectively. No significant difference was found between pregnant group (A) and non-pregnant group (B + C, P > 0.05).
Conclusions: TCT smear screening is necessary, safe and acceptable for routine prenatal tests. There is no difference in the cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions between pregnant and non-pregnant women.