OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to know if two smears may have better sensibility and specificity than a unique smear for anal cytology. METHOD: There were 112 patients, males, HIV-positive, with current or previous anal HPV-induced lesions. Proctological examination revealed clinical disease in the anal canal of 58 of them. Smears were collect with cytobrushes. We compared results of the first smear to a sum of this with a second one. RESULTS: First smear was positive in 40 patients (69%), and with both smears this incidence reached 88%. Results showed sensibility of 69% to the unique smear, and 88% when both were summed. Statistics revealed significant difference. Specificity was higher when both smears were summed, but statistics showed no difference. CONCLUSION: We concluded sensibility of anal cytology was better and specificity was similar when results were obtained with a sum of two smears.
Intra-epithelial neoplasia; Human papillomavirus infections; HIV infection; Squamous-cell carcinoma; anal canal
