Comparison of the Accuracy of Papanicolaou Test Cytology, Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid, and Visual Inspection With Lugol Iodine in Screening for Cervical Neoplasia in Southeast Nigeria

PurposeThis study aimed to compare the accuracy of Papanicolaou test cytology, visual inspection with 5% acetic acid (VIA), and visual inspection with Lugol iodine (VILI) in the detection of premalignant and malignant lesions of the cervix.Materials and MethodsThis was a cross-sectional comparative study of 200 consenting participants at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki over a 6-month period. All the participants had Papanicolaou test cytology. Subsequently, they were classified into two groups of 100 each through systematic random sampling: group 1 had VIA and group 2 had VILI. Thereafter, all the participants had cervical punch biopsy at the 6 and 12 o’clock cervical positions. Cervical punch biopsy was also done on the suspicious lesions of the cervix irrespective of their positions. The tests of validity of the three methods were calculated using the histology of the biopsy specimen as the gold standard. P value ≤ .05 was considered to be statistically significant.ResultsAmong the VIA group, 1...