CYTOMORPHOMETRIC STUDY OF BUCCAL MUCOSAL SMEARS OF SMOKERS AND NON SMOKERS

Objectives: The objective of the study was to observe the cytomporphometric changes in buccal mucosal smears of smokers and non-smokers.
Methods: The study groups consisted of 66 male subjects divided into two equal groups smokers S and non-smokers M, of ages between 15yrs-60yrs. Cellular diameter CD, nuclear diameter ND and nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio N/C ratio was assessed in buccal mucosal smears taken from clinically normal mucosa of smokers and normal subjects using exfoliative cytology.
Results: The mean cellular diameter of smokers and non-smokers was 54.41µm and 43.81µm respectively. The mean nuclear diameter of control group and smokers was 9.97µm and 12.68µm respectively. And the mean N/C ratio of group smokers and non-smokers was 1: 4.43 and 1: 4.42 respectively. The ONE WAY ANOVA test showed significant results (p=0.000) for cellular diameter CD, nuclear diameter ND and N/C ratio both, while Post Hoc Tukey test gave highly significant results for CD and N/C ratio i.e p=0.000.
Conclusions: Exfoliative cytology and cytomorphometry can help in the early detection of cellular changes as these techniques are easy, non-invasive and reproducible. Moreover, there is significant cause effect relationship between smoking and variables as cellular diameter CD and N/C ratio.