QUALIFICATION OF ATYPICAL SQUAMOUS CELLS OF UNDETERMINED SIGNIFICANCEIN AN INDEPENDENT LABORATORY - IS IT USEFUL OR SIGNIFICANT

OBJECTIVES: Correlation of cervical smears and biopsy samples emphasiz es the significance of atypical squamous cells of undetermined signifi cance as a diagnostic category. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study (O ctober 1, 1995-March 21, 1997) was performed on all Papanicolaou smear s diagnosed at DIANON Systems, Inc (Stratford, Conn). RESULTS: During this period 1551 patients with Papanicolaou smears had subsequent cerv ical biopsies performed within 90 days of cytologic sampling. There we re 560 diagnoses of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significan ce. Tissue specimen results were positive in 203 cases (36.2%) and neg ative in 357 cases (63.8%). Of the positive biopsy results after a sme ar with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, 109 show ed low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and 94 showed high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This study, the larges t cytologic and histologic correlation of atypical squamous cells of u ndetermined significance, demonstrates that a significant percentage o f smears with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance rep resent squamous intraepithelial lesions and that qualification of atyp ical squamous cells of undetermined significance as reactive or dyspla stic is useful and; should serve as a guide for patient management.