Cytopathology and Histopathology

Cancer Cytopathology

Cytopathology usually used to aid in the diagnosis of cancer, but also helps in the diagnosis of certain infectious diseases and other inflammatory conditions. Cancer Cytopathology is generally used on samples of free cells or tissue fragments, in contrast to histopathology, which studies whole tissues. Cytopathologic tests are sometimes called smear tests because the samples may be smeared across a glass microscope slide for subsequent staining and microscopic examination. However, cytology samples may be prepared in other ways, including cytocentrifugation. Different types of smear tests may also be used for cancer diagnosis. In this sense, it is termed a cytological smear.

In the new study, which reviewed screening results from approximately 8.6 million women, 18.6% of women with confirmed cervical cancer received a negative test result when tested only with an HPV assay.  In contrast, 5.5% of women with cancer who were co-tested received a negative test result, representing an approximate three-fold improvement in the cancer detection rate.