title: Rate of endometrial adenocarcinoma in women screened before and after implementation of the Bethesda 2001 reporting system.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of the recommendation of the 2001 Bethesda System to report all benign-appearing endometrial cells seen in women aged > or = 40 years on the frequency with which endometrial carcinomas are potentially detected as a consequence of Pap test reports that mention endometrial cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified all women diagnosed with endometrial adenocarcinoma who also had a Pap test during the preceding 6 months. The search was performed for 3-year periods before and after the date of implementation of Bethesda 2001.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Benign endometrial cells were reported for 589 women in the 3 years before Bethesda 2001 and for 3,810 women in the 3 following years. The number of endometrial malignancies found on follow-up in these women decreased from 8 in the 3 years before Bethesda 2001 to only 4 subsequently. The frequency of reporting atypical or malignant glandular cells, as well as the likelihood of finding endometrial malignancy on follow-up, did not significantly change.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite a 6.5-fold rise in the frequency of reporting benign endometrial cells after Bethesda 2001, the frequency of subsequent diagnosis of endometrial malignancies did not in-crease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolisa 55455, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thrall
authors.forename: Klint
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kjeldahl
authors.forename: Kay
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Savik
authors.forename: H Evin
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Gulbahce
authors.forename: Stefan E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Pambuccian
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016889:Endometrial Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014626:Vaginal Smears