Comparing Trio-Modified Papanicolaou Staining Methods for Assessing Liquid-Based Cytology Samples

The present study compared the staining uptake of three modified Papanicolaou staining methods in the assessment of liquid-based cytology samples. Other goals were to check for the most desirable and outstanding qualitative staining method amongst the three modified techniques. Six hundred and sixty (660) liquid-based cytology (LBC) smear samples were collected from 220 patients (3 slides per patient) attending the Center for Disease and Infection Control (CDC), University of Benin Teaching Hospital between January 2014 and April 2016. The LBC smears were marked (L1 to L220) for the Richard Allan Thermoscientific (RAT) method with the corresponding (M1 to M220) for an earlier modified emergency method (MEM) and (N1 to N220) marked to demonstrate the Simplified Alternative Papanicolaou (SAP) method comparatively. SAP lasted for (50.5) minutes compared to MEM (70.5) and RAT (250.5) minutes for the same number of slides (P<0.001). Also, RAT had 3/220(1.4%), MEM 0/220(0%) and SAP 3/220(1.4%) unsatisfactory cytoplasmic staining. The nuclei staining was optimal and distinct in RAT 1/220(0.5%), MEM 2/220(0.9%) and SAP 3/220(1.4%) for the same number of stained smears (P<0.00). Our findings indicate that SAP is both time-saving and economic friendly than other two methods. However, MEM showed an excellent qualitative staining for LBC samples than SAP and RAT.