Reviewer's report 
 Additional Collection Devices Used In Conjunction With The SurePath Liquid-Based Pap Test Title: 
Broom Device Do Not Enhance Diagnostic Utility 
 1  21 June 2004 Version: Date: 
 Joel Bentz Reviewer: 
Reviewer's report: 
General 
This is a very useful research effort, and the results will be helpful to many cytology laboratories 
which use the SurePath liquid-based pap test. I have several major criticisms, one being that the 
overall study population is very small, and could have an effect on the statistical analysis reported. 
The authors should comment upon this in the discussion. Second, the study design appears to 
always favor the SurePath broom in each case, as the alternative collection device (ACD) gets the "left-overs" from the cervix. To eliminate this bias, why not alternate which device is used first? The authors need to comment on this in the discussion. Was there a compelling reason to use the 
SurePath device first? Third, the terminology used in the paper could be cleaned up, because it is 
confusing when using "SurePath Broom" which is actually marketed as Cervex-Brush. This could be confusing to the reader. I would recommend a picture of the various devices, to clarify further the differences between the collection devices. 
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Major Compulsory Revisions (that the author must respond to before a decision on publication can be reached) 1. Further comment concerning small study number and strength of statistical analysis. 
Please comment why use three different statistical tests to analyze the data. The p value that is 
given in the tables has a meaning, but is not discussed in the text. What is the significance of the p values? 2. Explain the study design, which always favor the SurePath Broom. It is not clear if the samples 
were all placed into the same vial, or separate vials. 
3. Clarify the terminology used to describe the collection devices. Clear up any opportunities for 
confusion. 
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Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the author can be trusted to correct) 
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Discretionary Revisions (which the author can choose to ignore)page 3, line 7 "....Pap tests are available, one ...." page 3, line "ThinPrep" and "ThinPrep Pap Test" are proprietary, and are a registered trademark. Same is true for SurePath. Page 3, line 11 "...combination are approved for 
cervical sampling..." page 4, line 8 "...The SurePath broom device was placed into CytoRich 
(registered) preservative vials..." page 4, line 10 "Rovers and Medscand samples were processed like the broom device." ??using a new vial of CytoRich??? Explain. page 6, line 8 "...1/8 had LGL 
identified..." This should be LSIL. Also, LGL is not defined in the text. Page 6, line14 "...2/7 had HGL. 
" Not defined in text, should use HSIL. Page 9, line12 "...little work has been done to examine..." 
Table 1. the abbreviations LGL and NIL are not defined. LGL is not a standard abbreviation. Use LSIL Table 2. HGL and ASCUS are not defined. HGL is not a standard abbreviation, preper to use 
HSIL. Table 3. LGL, HGL, and AGUS are not defined. Non-standard abbreviations. Table 4. LGL and 
NIL not defined. Non-standard abbreviations 
 Unable to decide on acceptance or rejection until the authors have responded to the What next?: 
major compulsory revisions 
 An article whose findings are important to those with closely related research Level of interest: 
interests 
 Needs some language corrections before being published Quality of written English: 
 No Statistical review: 
Declaration of competing interests: 
Dr. Bentz has served as a consultant to TriPath Care Technologies and has received honoraria for 
speaking and serving as an expert reviewer for past clinical trials. Dr. Bentz does not hold any stocks 
or shares in any company discussed in the study.