Rapid pre-screening of Pap smears effective as quality control - News - Scientific Institute of Public Health - Brief Article

Medical Laboratory Observer, April, 2003

Quick partial preview scanning of Pap smears can improve the quality of cytology programs, according to a report in the Feb. 25 issue of the journal Cancer. Dr. Marc Arbyn of the Scientific Institute of Public Health in Brussels and his colleagues conducted a meta-analysis of pooled data on the diagnostic yielding of rapid prescreening of unreported smears.

For all abnormalities, they found a 64.9 percent average sensitivity of rapid prescreening; for low-grade or more severe lesions, the average sensitivity was 72.6 percent; and for high-grade or more severe lesions, the sensitivity was 85.7 percent. Because they had previously found that rapid reviewing is better than fully reviewing a 10 percent sample of negative slides, researchers say the yield of a rapid pre-screening protocol is also likely to be superior.