title: Update on the Papanicolaou smear: new issues for the 1990s.
abstract: The Papanicolaou (Pap) smear is a complex examination that has undergone refinement in recent years. It is now widely accepted that a false-negative rate of perhaps 10 to 20% is inevitable for a variety of reasons. The diagnosis of "atypical cells of undetermined significance" is not a benign diagnosis and is often followed by a more severe lesion on follow-up. The Pap smear appears to be an inefficient method for detecting glandular neoplasms, and clinical features remain the most important diagnostic clue. A Pap smear and cervical biopsy should correlate in 75% or more of cases. In cases of noncorrelation, a positive Pap smear diagnosis is supported in the vast majority of cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular Pathology. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, DC 20306-8000, USA.
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Ollayos
mesh_terms: D001706:Biopsy / Q000592:standards; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends