Is Liquid-Based Cervical Cytology Better Than Conventional?

Although liquid-based cervical cytology has become a standard technique for cervical cancer screening, evidence that it is better than conventional cytology is meager. To compare the two methods, Italian investigators randomized more than 45,000 women (age range, 25–60) presenting for Pap smears to undergo screening using either conventional or liquid-based cytology.

In an intention-to-screen analysis, the proportion of women who had at least one technically unsatisfactory or uninterpretable cytology result was significantly lower in the liquid-based cytology group; this reduction was greater in women aged 25 to 34 than in older women. No significant increase in sensitivity for grade 2 or higher cervical intraepithelial neoplasia was found, …