The significance of parakeratosis alone in cervicovaginal cytology of turkish women

Abstract

Background: We aimed to analyze the significance of parakeratosis on an otherwise negative Papanicalaou (Pap) smear, in the absence of any characteristic human papilloma virus (HPV) findings. Methods: A total of 22,076 Papanicalaou smears that were diagnosed as negative for intraepithelial lesions or malignancy between 2013 and 2015 were included in this study. Samples were separated into two groups, according to the presence of parakeratosis. We investigated the association between parakeratosis in the cytology results and a high-risk HPV status and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) in the colposcopic biopsy specimens. Results: A positive HPV result was more frequently identified in cases with parakeratosis than in cases without parakeratosis (P < 0.001). A histological diagnosis of HSIL was more frequently observed in HPV-positive cases with a diagnosis of parakeratosis on cytology than in cases without parakeratosis (P = 0.8). Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that a finding of parakeratosis on an otherwise negative Pap smear supports a follow-up HPV DNA test. Also we should consider whether the presence of parakeratosis should be included in standard cytology reports. Additionally parakeratosis trended toward increased frequency of HSIL in follow-up biopsy specimens. But it did not reach statistical significance. That is why larger studies are necessary to evaluate the association of parakeratosis and HSIL in colposcopic biopsy specimens. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2017;45:297–302. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.