CERVICAL SMEAR PATTERN AMONG PATIENTS IN PUERPERAL PERIOD AT AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, ZARIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Cervical cancer which is a preventable disease is still of public health
importance in the developing countries. Unlike in the developed countries
where it is almost eradicated mainly because of organised screening using
Papanicolaou smear, opportunistic screening is what still operates in the
developing countries; hence the high incidence as a result of late presentation.
OBJECTIVE
To study the pattern of cervical smear taken from patients during the
puerperium and to determine the prevalence of squamous epithelial lesion
among the women in the puerperal period in Ahmadu Bello University
Teaching Hospital, Zaria.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a descriptive study carried out in the postnatal clinic of Ahmadu Bello
University Teaching Hospital, Zaria. Pap smear samples were taken and the
samples were fixed in 95% ethyl alcohol and taken to the pathology
department for processing and interpretation.

RESULTS
A total of three hundred and fifty-nine participants were recruited and their
results analysed. Pap smear reported two hundred and ninety-three (81.6%) as
negative (normal), thirty-three (9.2%) as inflammatory, two (0.6%) as atypical
squamous cell of undetermined significance (ASCUS), six (1.7%) as low grade
squamous intraepithelial lesion (LGSIL), two (0.6%) as high grade squamous
intraepithelial lesion (HGSIL), six (1.7%) with reactive changes while seventeen
(4.7%) were inadequate. The prevalence of premalignant lesion was 2.9%.

CONCLUSION
The pattern of cervical cytology among the patients in the puerperium is
comparable with those that were done outside the puerperium. Pap smear can
hence be incorporated into the routine investigations that are done before a
patient is discharged from the postnatal clinic.

CERVICAL SMEAR PATTERN AMONG PATIENTS IN PUERPERAL PERIOD AT AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, ZARIA