OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the existence of intra and intercytophathologists disagreement in the analysis of cervical slides previously diagnosed as atypical skin cells with undetermined significance (ASCUS), and the degree of this disagreement. METHODS: a transversal study of 50 cervical slides of Pap smears previously diagnosed as ASCUS, collected in November 2000 in Contagem town. They were analyzed and classified by four cytopathologists according to the first Bethesda system review of 1991 (normal, atrophic alteration, inflammatory alteration, suggestive of LoSIL, suggestive of HiSIL, suggestive of invasive carcinoma and others). After the first analysis, the slides were renumbered in a random order and sent to the same cytophathologists for a new exam. The Kappa test and the weighted Kappa were used in the analysis of the results. RESULTS: there was a high degree of disagreement between the different analyses of the same cytopathologist, varying from 7.8 to 74.4% according to the Kappa test. When a weight of 20% was settled for each degree of disagreement, these values increased from 16.1% for the cytopathologist A to 81.08% for the cytopathologist B. Concerning the comparative analyses made by different examiners the Kappa test values obtained varied from 50.6% to 63.4% in the normal and weighted versions, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: this study confirms the existence of subjectivity in the analysis of the ASCUS category and imprecision in the analysis criteria by the same examiner.
ASCUS; Cytopathology; Cancer screening; Cervix
