Abstract
Objective : BD SurePathTM is a standardized specimen preparation system for the preliminary preprocessing process of removal of mucus, blood, debris, etc. We added mucus (sputum) to BD SurePathTM to clarify the performance of this preprocessing process.
Study Design : We collected squamous cells and divided the sample so as to obtain about 10 squamous cells in each of 40×high-power fields (HPF) per slide. We then added 2000-5000μl of mucus into the abovementioned vials to prepare a BD SurePathTM specimen. The squamous cell counts were determined for each individual field, and the mean was calculated for each specimen. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the results in the 5000-μl preprocessing and non-preprocessing groups (100 samples each in this case).
Results : The mean squamous cell counts was 10.6 in the 0-μl group, 42.3 in the 2000-μl group, 40.3 in the 3000-μl group, 35.9 in the 4000-μl group, 27.0 in the 5000-μl group and 5.0 in the 5000-μl group with no preprocessing. In preprocessing up to 5000μl, mucus was removed, and the squamous cell count increased. Mucus remained in the 5000-μl samples that were not subjected to the preprocessing, which showed a sharply reduced squamous cell count. The number of squamous cells in the non-preprocessing group was significantly lower in comparison with that in the preprocessing group (p<0.001).
Conclusions : The preprocessing process standardized for BD SurePathTM prevents elimination of important cells and possible misdiagnosis based on an unsatisfactory specimen due to mucus contamination. This contributes to more accurate detection of cervical lesions.
