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Quality assurance in cytopathology: aspects of the cytohistological correlation

The cytohistologic diagnosis concordance of the cervix-uterine lesions was evaluated and the discordances are discussed. PURPOSE. To evalute the level of cytohistological diagnosis agreement in the Pathology Division of the Adolfo Lutz Institute and enhance parameters of quality assurance system developed in this institution. METHODS. The authors retrospectively evaluated 157 pairs of cytologyhistology consecutive cases from the files the Adolfo Lutz Institute (Division of Pathology). RESULTS. Agreement was found in 119 cases (75.8%); in the remaining cases cytologic diagnosis were higher than histology in 11 lesions (7.0%) and lower in 27 (17.2%). We also observed that in 5 cases previously diagnosed as inflammatory, 2 of them were reclassified as CIN 1; after revision, the others remained as inflammatory even though they had a histological diagnosis of CIN. CONCLUSION. These results showed the role of cytohistological correlation to the quality assurance system of cytological diagnosis and also stressed the importance of taking the cervical scrapes with accurate care to avoid diagnostic discrepances.

Colpocitology; Cervix-uterine cancer prevention; Cytopathology; Papanicolaou test


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