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The assessment of DNA and RNA preservation in liquid based cytology media

P Trempat, R C Zenou, P Brousset

Department of Pathology, UPCM UPR2163 CNRS, CHU Purpan, Avenue de Grande Bretagne, 31059 Toulouse Cedex; brousset.p@chu-toulouse.fr

Keywords: cervical cytology; monolayer; DNA; RNA

The Papanicolaou cervical smear method has long been used for cervical cancer screening, but there is a trend to develop liquid based cytology media and monolayer techniques to reduce false negative rates. These last two types of technique seem to increase the sensitivity of cervical cancer detection,¹ and also provide cellular residues that are useful either for spotting additional slices or performing molecular techniques, such as hybrid capture or the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).² Different media exist and to date the PreservCyt^TM medium used in the ThinPrep^TM Pap Test^TM method (Cytyc, Boxborough, Massachusetts, USA) has been validated by the Food and Drug Administration as an alternative method to the conventional smear. Different methods of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection have been compared and the PCR seems to have higher analytical sensitivity than hybrid capture, at least on the samples processed with the PreservCyt liquid.² A previous report, which tested serial dilutions . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Horvath, C, Boulet, G, Sahebali, S, Bogers, J, Depuydt, C, Vereecken, A, Vermeulen, T, Vanden Broeck, D (2008). Effects of fixation on RNA integrity in a liquid-based cervical cytology setting. J. Clin. Pathol. 61: 132-137 [Abstract] [Full Text]