Pap smear has an undisputable role in early diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of cervix. Reliability of the cytological diagnosis depends on the technique of the provider, accuracy of selection of the sampling site and of appliment of the technique. ln the present study 2832 smears which were diagnosed according to Bethesda system in Mersin University Medical Faculty Pathology Department were evaluated to determine satisfactory but limited/unsatisfactory rates and reasons retrospectively .

Of the smears sampled by using a brush 819 (99.1%) were sampled from cervix, four (0.4%) from vagina and three (0.3%) from vaginal cuff. The smears stained with Papanicolaou were satisfactory but limited and unsatisfactory in 826 [770 (93.2%) satisfactory but limited, 56 (6.7%) unsatisfactory] cases. The most frequent reason was the absence of endocervical/metaplastic cells [370 (48.0%)] in satisfactory but limited cases and was drying/fixation artefact [21 (37.5%)] in unsatisfactory cases.