Atypical glandular cells (AGC): ThinPrep Imaging System (TIS), manual screening (MS), and correlation with Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) HPV DNA testing

Objective The aim of the study was to determine if the ThinPrep Imaging System (T1S) improves the positive predictive value (PPV) of atypical glandular cell (AGC) diagnosis for identifying HPV-related squamous and/or glandular lesions over manual screening (MS), and if human papilloma virus (HPV)-DNA testing improves the diagnostic yield. Materials and Methods 85 ThinPrep cervical cytology specimens with a diagnosis of AGC by TIS (n = 51) and MS (n = 34) were retrieved. The diagnoses were correlated with corresponding histologic follow-up and high risk (HR)-HPV testing results. Results The PPV of AGC by TIS and MS for HPV-related squamous lesions were similar. In the MS group, more cases of glandular pathology were identified, however only three represented adenocarcinoma in-situ (AIS), and the remaining ten were endometrial carcinomas (EMCA). Conclusions TIS and MS are comparable in the detection of AGC representing squamous histology and the addition of HPV DNA testing does not differentially improve performance. Although the MS group harbored more glandular pathology, the differences in the detection of AIS were not statistically significant. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2010;38:705–709. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.