Dutch researchers found that the two standard methods of detecting cervical abnormalities are equivalent to each other. Liquid-based cytology is no better than pap smear.

It was observed during a large, cluster-randomized study that liquid-based cytology and Pap smears were equally good at detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or carcinoma.

Siebers and colleagues recently wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association that the positive predictive values of the two techniques were also the same.

The researchers said that the findings suggest that liquid-cased cytology is neither more sensitive nor is it more specific in detecting cervical cancer precursors than the conventional Pap smear.

A meta-analysis results which were published last year are in agreement with the recent findings.

Mark Schiffman, MD, and Diane Solomon, MD, both of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. said that they are not likely to have any effect on clinical practice in the U. S.

The difference between the two tests lies in the way they are treated in the laboratory. In a traditional Pap test, cells are collected and smeared on a slide for evaluation while in a liquid-based cytology the cells are rinsed in a vial of preservation solution.

Some see liquid-based cytology to be more advantageous because it also screens for human papillomavirus which causes most cervical cancers.

Dr. Mark Schiffman, a senior investigator at the U. S. National Cancer Institute, noted that the liquid-based cytology is more expensive that the traditional Pap smear, but is preferred by U. S. laboratories since the specimens are easier to handle and more analyses can be done in a day. The same specimen can also be used for HPV which is common in the U. S.