Comparison between Pap smear and visual inspection with acetic acid in screening of premalignant cervical intraepithelial lesion and subclinical early cancer cervix

Background: The objective of the study was to compare the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of VIA and Pap smear in screening of premalignant cervical intraepithelial lesion and subclinical early cancer cervix.Methods: An observational prospective study was done for 350 patients attending the gynecology outpatient clinic of the shatby maternity university hospital for any reasons, VIA and Pap test were done for all patients, then colposcopic guided biopsy from cases with positive colposcopic findings. Histopathological examination was done for collected biopsy. Collected data was statistically analyzed to compare between both tests (PAP and VIA).Results: Our results showed that the sensitivity of PAP test was 83.3%, specificity was 90.7%, positive predictive value was 50.8%, negative predictive value was 97.9% and accuracy was 90% while the VIA test had a sensitivity of 66.7%, specificity was 91%, positive predictive value was 46.1%, negative predictive value was 95.9% and accuracy was 88.5%.Conclusions: Via test has comparable results to Pap test regarding its sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy and can be used as an alternative primary test to screen premalignant cervical intraepithelial lesion and subclinical early cancer cervix