Papanicolaou test collection with the Papette brush or the spatula with cytobrush - A pragmatic study

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick

Cotesting using the Papanicolaou (Pap) test together with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing detects most precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions and improves sensitivity for high-grade precancerous and invasive cancers compared with HPV testing alone. This pragmatic observational study compared the Papette brush against the traditional spatula with endocervical brush (cytobrush) for cervical cancer screening, analyzing pathology reports for satisfactory versus unsatisfactory results. Among 756 Pap tests, the Papette yielded satisfactory results in 93.8% versus 93.0% for cytobrush, supporting non-inferiority.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

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Pages6

Reading Time15 min

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Abstract

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Papanicolaou test collection with the Papette brush or the spatula with cytobrush: A pragmatic study Danielle J O’Laughlin 1, Brittany A Strelow 1, Nicole A Fellows 1, Joy N Stevens 1, Elizabeth A Kelsey 1, Stephanie R Fink 1, Sonya M Peters 1, Jennifer A Johnson 1, Jaclyn P Houghton 1, Anne M Stolp 1, Karen M Fischer2, Johanna M Tweedy 1 and Ramona S DeJesus 1 Women’s Health Volume 19: 1–6 © The Author(s) 2023 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/17455057231170975](DOI: 10.1177/17455057231170975)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/17455057231170975)[journals.sagepub.com/home/whe](journals.sagepub.com/home/whe) Abstract Background: Cotesting with the Papanicolaou (Pap) and human papillomavirus tests detects most precancerous and cancerous lesions and increases the sensitivity for detecting high-grade precancerous and invasive cervical cancers compared with human papillomavirus testing alone. Objective: To compare the use of the Papette brush (hereafter Papette) to the traditional spatula with endocervical brush (cytobrush) for cervical cancer screening. Design: Pragmatic observational study. Methods: Adult women aged 21–64 years who were eligible for a Papanicolaou test at a Midwest Community Internal Medicine practice underwent cervical cancer screening using the Papette or spatula with cytobrush from 18 August 2021 through 1 February 2022. Cluster sampling was used across the practice. Pathology reports were then analyzed to compare the number of satisfactory versus unsatisfactory results between the two collection techniques. Results: We collected results for 756 Pap tests. The test results were satisfactory with the Papette 93.8% of the time compared with 93.0% for the spatula with cytobrush. Conclusion: The Papette is not inferior to a spatula with cytobrush as a collection method for Pap tests. Keywords cytobrush, Pap smear, Papanicolaou test, Papette, spatula Date received: 10 October 2022; revised: 15 March 2023; accepted: 4 April 2023 Introduction In 1940, cervical cancer was the leading cause of death for women of childbearing age.1 The development of the Papanicolaou (Pap) test by G. N. Papanicolaou in the late 1920s and publication of his landmark paper with H. Trautin 19412 led to widespread use of the Pap test in the 1950s, which dramatically reduced the incidence of cervical cancer deaths in the United States by more than 60% .1 Used to detect abnormal or atypical cervical cellular changes suggestive of an actual or precancerous lesion, the Pap test has remained a standard, routinely used tool for cervical cancer screening. The Pap test, which assesses cervical cytology on collected samples, can be performed alone or in combination with human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. HPV testing can also be performed alone (currently collected by a 1 Division of Community Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA 2Division of Clinical Trials and Biostatistics, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA Corresponding author: Ramona S DeJesus, Division of Community Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. Email: [dejesus.ramona@mayo.edu](dejesus.ramona@mayo.edu) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). practitioner), is now an accepted screening test for cervical cancer for average-risk women aged 30 or older, and has the potential for future self-col

FAQs

What was the objective of this pragmatic study?

To compare use of the Papette brush with the traditional spatula plus endocervical brush (cytobrush) for cervical cancer screening.

How were participants and screening performed?

Adult women aged 21–64 eligible for a Papanicolaou test at a Midwest Community Internal Medicine practice underwent screening using either Papette or spatula with cytobrush from 18 August 2021 through 1 February 2022.

What did the results show about test adequacy?

Papette produced satisfactory Pap test results 93.8% of the time versus 93.0% for the spatula with cytobrush.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Patrick