Direct visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid for the detection of premalignant lesions

Abstract EN

Background This cross-sectional study aimed to compare the performance of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) against routine Pap smear for early detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in Omdurman Province settings.

Methods The study was conducted in Ahfad Family Health Centre (AFHC).

A total of 65 women aged 18-60 years had a Pap smear followed by visual inspection of the cervix using 4-5 % acetic acid.

The 19 women who had positive VIA or abnormal Pap smear tests were referred for colposcopy together with randomly selected women as ones of the test-negative women.

Results Of the all 29 women who were referred for colposcopy, 14 (48.

3 %) had abnormal result.

Half of the 14 women with abnormal result (7) were detected by VIA, of which 4 cases were missed by cytology.

Almost the other half 6 (40.

9 %) of these 14 positive cases were detected by the conventional cytology test as well, 3 cases of these were missed by VIA.

Four women out of the10 who were tested negative by both tests returned back after colposcopy as positive.

Conclusion The study indicated that VIA had similar or better performance than cytology in detecting cervical neoplasia.

Therefore, VIA worth further evaluation as an appropriate alternative to Pap smear in resource-challenged settings like ours in Sudan