title: Improving the screening of cervical precancerous lesions by improving laboratory quality assurance in cytology.
abstract: It is well recognized that despite repeated screening, a certain number of women continue to develop invasive cervical cancer. This fact emphasizes the importance of identifying the potential failures of the detection system and of analyzing the reasons for such failures. The quality of cytological diagnoses, particularly the high number of false-negative smears, frequently is debated. Sampling errors include cell collection (bad sampling and paucicellularity), smear preparation, and the presence of blood and inflammation. The need to improve slide quality has encouraged the development of a number of devices aimed at automating slide making. Screening errors also can result in incorrect diagnoses and have led to quality assurance guidelines that are unique to cytology but are not universally accepted. In recent years, several commercially sponsored systems have been developed that use partial automation of the reading process to improve manual quality control. Laboratory quality assurance is necessary. The various options described in this article, if applied, should improve the quality of cervical cytology.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Cerba, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bergeron