Rapid rescreening of cervical smears: an improved method of quality control.
Rapid rescreening of approximately 30% of all negative and inadequate consecutive smears was carried out over a 26-month period. Smears (n = 24,012) were rescreened using a x6.3 objective only. Two minutes were allowed for each slide. Thirty-nine smears were found to have been incorrectly diagnosed as negative, a rate of 0.16%. This can be compared with the previous 26 months during which the traditional 1 in 10 random rescreening of unsatisfactory and negative smears had been carried out at a routine pace and with an objective of x10. A total of 6866 smears were rescreened. Eleven were found to have been incorrectly diagnosed as negative, a rate of 0.16%. Rapid rescreening is as sensitive as 1 in 10 rescreening, and allows a greater proportion of smears to be rescreened. We propose rapid rescreening should replace the traditional 1 in 10 rescreening methods.
Dudding
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Yorkshire Regional Cytology Training School, Department of Histopathology, General Infirmary at Leeds, UK.
D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011786:Quality Control; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014626:Vaginal Smears