Most of the patients who come to my clinic have had TCT. We all know that it is a test to screen for cervical cancer, but what exactly is it? How to read the test report? Many of you may not be clear about it, so let me introduce it to you in detail here. TCT is the abbreviation of cervical fluid-based thin-layer cytology test, which adopts the fluid-based thin-layer cytology test system to detect cervical cells and perform cytological classification and diagnosis. It is one of the most advanced cervical cancer cytology examination techniques in the international arena. Compared with the traditional Pap smear examination, which is often affected by blood, mucus and inflammation and can lead to blurred samples, resulting in inaccurate test results, cell monitoring by cervical TCT examination is not affected by these factors, which significantly improves the satisfaction of specimens and the detection rate of abnormal cells in the cervix, making The accuracy rate of cervical cancer detection is up to 98% or more. It can also detect some precancerous lesions, microbial infections such as mycobacteria, trichomonas, viruses, chlamydia, etc. Therefore, TCT technology is the most advanced technology applied to cervical cancer screening for women. Specific steps: When doctors perform physical examination, they use a special sampler for TCT to collect cervical cell samples and use advanced liquid-based cell preservation technology and fully automatic cell detector to disperse and filter the samples to reduce the residue of blood, mucus and inflammatory tissues to make clearer smears, which are then examined under a microscope to see if there are cells that are different from normal cells, because cervical cancer first starts from the mutation of cervical cells. It starts from the variation of cervical cells. How to read the TCT report? TCT test is not only used to check cervical cancer cells, but also to detect low grade precancerous lesions and early stage cancer, and to diagnose microbial infections such as trichomonas, mycobacterial infections, bacterial infections, HPV (human papilloma virus) infections and herpes virus infections. The common TCT test results and their significance are as follows: Gynecological inflammation It means that the human cervix is a bacterial environment and when the environment is changed it affects the cervical cells and abnormal changes occur, which is normal in most cases. Doctors usually treat the symptoms of inflammation according to the degree of inflammation. Mycobacterial, trichomonas, and herpes infections Mycobacterial, trichomonas, and herpes infections are multi-infectious diseases and are usually treated according to the type of microbial infection in order to relieve symptoms. HPV human papilloma infection Meaning an infection caused by HPV human papilloma, further HPV testing is needed to determine whether it is a high-risk HPV infection or a low-risk HPV infection. ASC-H Atypical squamous cells, high degree of squamous intraepithelial lesions not excluded Meaning there may be precancerous lesions, but the degree of abnormal cells is not definitive enough for diagnosis. Doctors usually recommend immediate colposcopy to further clarify the diagnosis of the condition. ASC-US Atypical squamous cells without definite significance means that the cervical cells are slightly altered, but not enough to reach the level of low grade lesions (LSIL). LSIL low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion Meaning some suspicious precancerous cells are found, but not cancerous cells. Further definitive diagnosis is needed. HSIL high squamous intraepithelial lesion It means that there are suspicious precancerous cells, and if no further definite diagnosis is made and appropriate treatment is taken, there is a higher possibility of progression to cancer. AGC atypical glandular cells It means that there are some changes in the cells of the cervical canal, alerting to the high possibility of precancerous lesions. Doctors often have to recommend colposcopy and removal of tissue from the cervical canal for a definitive diagnosis. Chemoblasts Chemoblasts are not cancer cells, they are a type of immature cells that appear during the recovery of cervical inflammation and have a role in repairing the erosive surface of the cervix. TCT is only the first step in the examination of cervical lesions. Generally speaking, the diagnosis of cervical lesions is divided into three steps: TCT, colposcopy and pathological diagnosis. If the TCT shows a problem, then further colposcopy or pathological diagnosis should be done to accurately determine the condition; if the TCT results show benign, these tests can be eliminated. However, it should be noted that persistent infection with high-risk HPV is necessary to cause cervical cancer. TCT is a cytological test and those who test positive for HPV do not necessarily have cytological changes! In other words, patients infected with HPV may not have developed to the extent of changing cell morphology, which is undetectable by TCT, so clinically both TCT and HPV testing are usually done to determine whether there is a final causative agent of cervical cancer.