Limitations of conventional pap smear
• Inadequate samples constitute about 8% of the specimens received. • False-negative results as high as 20-30% have been reported, which occurred due to clumping of cells when the cells are not uniformly spread on the glass slide. • Sometimes, other contents of the cervical specimen such as blood, mucus, bacteria and yeasts contaminate the sample and prevent the detection of abnormal cells. • If exposed to air for too long before being fixed on the slide, cervical cells can become distorted. • Human error is probably the primary threat to accurate interpretation. An average Pap smear slide contains 50,000-300,000 cells that must be examined and if the sample contains only a few abnormal cells within a crowded background of healthy cells, the abnormal cells may be missed. • Due to limited capacity, long back-logs for reporting cervical cytology were often seen. An automated system was needed to improve screening productivity and reduce manual workload.
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