The objective of this study was to correlate the number of endocervical cells and the number of atypical cells in cervical smears with cytological abnormalities to verify if a higher number of endocervical cells would implicate in a higher number of squamous atypical cells. In this cross sectional study, it was made a blinded review of 294 conventional cervical smears. The consensus diagnoses reached by the blinded review by three observers included 213 low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSILs) and 81 high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSILs). In each cervical smear were computed the number of endocervical cells and the number of squamous atypical cells, and it was established the following score: one (0-5 cells); two (6-10 cells); three (11-25 cells); four (26-50 cells); and five (more than 50 cells). Compared to the smears with an account of endocervical cells classified in score 1 (0-5 cells), an account of more than 50 endocervical cells was significantly associated to the presence of at least 10 squamous atypical cells in the cervical smears (OR 2.87 95% CI 1.54-5.35). Data from this study suggest that there is a positive association between the number of endocervical cells and the number of squamous atypical cells suggestive of SIL.
(c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.