The pathological outcome of ThinPrep Pap tests diagnosed as glandular cell abnormalities alone versus combined glandular and squamous abnormalities.

BACKGROUND: Although the incidence of glandular cell abnormalities (GCA) on cervical cytology is low, the clinical and histologic findings are often significant. A combined diagnosis of squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL) and GCA indicates concern for either two distinct lesions or single entity. The goal of this study is to evaluate the outcome of the diagnosis of GCA alone or in combination with squamous abnormality (SqA).

METHODS: From January 2012-June 2017, our laboratory processed 162 088 ThinPrep Pap tests. 998 (0.61%) cases were reported as GCA. Histologic follow-up was available in 569 cases after excluding adenocarcinoma, NOS and atypical endometrial cells. HPV results were available in 429 (67.2%) cases.

RESULTS: The surgical follow-up on 271 cases with GCA alone diagnosis revealed negative/benign lesions in 183 (67.5%) cases, glandular lesions in 40 (14.8%) cases; SqA in 47 (17.3%) cases; combined in 1 (0.4%) case. Surgical follow-up on 298 cases with dual interpretation revealed negative/benign lesions in 108 (36.2%) cases, SqA in 159 (53.4%) cases, GCA in 21 (7.0%) cases and only 10 (3.4%) cases were combined lesions. The mean age was 44 ±13.36 years. The overall hrHPV-positive rate was 36.2%. Endometrial carcinoma was most common abnormality in patients >65 years (71.4%) especially with hrHPV-negative results. CIN 1-3 was the most common finding in patients <30 years (50%).

CONCLUSION: A cytological diagnosis of GCA has a higher risk of glandular abnormality on surgical follow-up especially in the older and hrHPV-negative group (P < .0001) while a combined diagnosis has a higher risk of a squamous lesion especially in <30 years (P < .0001). The combination of cytology, hrHPV-status and patient age can significantly aid in the stratification of the patient into high risk for glandular/squamous lesions which results in appropriate management.