Title
Cervical cytology screening in a newly established government medical college: A bethesda-based reporting analysis
Authors
Priya Patel*, Shruti Semwal & Vikas Pandey
Affiliation
Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Satna, Madhya Pradesh, India; *Corresponding author
Priya Patel - E-mail:
priyamva2016@gmail.com; Phone: +91 7987070261
Shruti Semwal - E-mail: shrutisemwal29@gmail.com; Phone: +91
9617462121
Vikas Pandey - E-mail: vikas.pandey09@gmail.com; Phone: +91 6370150278
Article Type
Research Article
Date
Received February 1, 2026; Revised February 28, 2026; Accepted February 28, 2026, Published February 28, 2026
Abstract
Cervical cancer poses a major health challenge in rural India due to limited screening access, necessitating cost-effective Pap smear programs using Bethesda criteria in new healthcare centres. This retrospective study analysed 148 cervical Pap smears from a rural medical college in central India, classified per the standardised Bethesda reporting system. Most smears (77.7%) were negative for intraepithelial lesion/malignancy (NILM), while abnormalities included ASC-US (4.7%), AGC-NOS and HSIL, successfully identifying precancerous lesions. The 31–40 years age group dominated (32.4%), with screening uptake increasing 74% between years 1–2, demonstrating programme feasibility in resource-limited settings. Thus, we show that preventive oncology by validating Bethesda-standardised Pap screening as an effective, scalable strategy for early cervicovaginal abnormality detection in underserved rural populations.
Keywords
Pap smear, Bethesda system, cervical cytology, negative for intraepithelial lesion/malignancy (NILM), cervical cancer screening, epithelial abnormalities, rural healthcare
Citation
Patel et al. Bioinformation 22(2): 1225-1231 (2026)
Edited by
Vini Mehta
ISSN
0973-2063
Publisher
License
This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
