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Benign cellular changes: Have we inadvertently reinvented the class II cytology sign‐out?
Author(s) -
Luff Ronald D.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
diagnostic cytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1097-0339
pISSN - 8755-1039
DOI - 10.1002/dc.2840100403
Subject(s) - interim , medicine , lexicon , cervical screening , cervical cancer , sign (mathematics) , cytology , gynecology , pathology , cancer , computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , history
Beginning in December 1988, a group of highly motivated professionals assembled under NCI sponsorship for the sole purpose of attempting the impossible—namely, attain a national consensus on using standard terms for the sign‐out of cervical/vaginal cytology. What developed was more than many attendees ever expected: a recommended standardized format for cervical/vaginal cytology reports and a lexicon of terms to use in that format that has subsequently become known as The Bethesda System (TBS). 1 As expected and anticipated, TBS was criticized for lacking definitions of specimen adequacy and for an absence of diagnostic criteria for some entities. Hence, a second TBS Workshop was held in April 1991, again sponsored by the NCI, with its primary purpose to receive feedback from laboratorians who had been using TBS. From that workshop, changes to the original lexicon were made and disseminated, again after extensive debate and discussion. 2 A second communication has just recently been published detailing the criteria of specific entities listed in TBS, including 61 color illustrations for clarification. 3 In June 1992, the NCI sponsored a workshop to develop interim guidelines for clinical follow‐up to entities diagnosed utilizing TBS. This had been considered the final “missing piece of the puzzle” in updating cervical/vaginal cytology. Their workshop report is scheduled to be published shortly.