Retrospective study of 112 patients who had colposcopy-guided biopsy: Comparison of the cytology results with histology

Abstract

We aimed to examine Papanicolaou smear results with histology for determining the false-negative/positive rate and also discussing reasons of discrepancies. The medical records of 112 patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (I, II and III), atypical squamous cells on Papanicolaou smears and benign cellular changes, who underwent colposcopy-guided biopsy, over a 36 months period were reviewed. All Papanicolaou smears and histology slides showing any discordance were retrieved and reviewed to determine reasons of any discrepancies. Based on the results of our study, we determined a 5.3% of false-negative rate and a 3.5% of false-positive rate for the Papanicolaou smear examination. The efficiency of the Papanicolaou smear was 90.7%. Our study results are quite similar to those of previous reports. Despite the relative small number of cases, our false-negative and positive rates are acceptable. We recommend comparing the histology with cytology results regularly for determining causes of any discrepancies and also for obtaining an optimal internal quality assurance mechanism.