Potentially difficult smears of women with squamous cell carcinoma pose fewer problems when PAPNET is used for primary screening

The diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) on a cervical smear is often far from easy. This study reports the analysis of 40 true-positive SCC sme ars detected in primary PAPNET screening and eight false-negative (FN) conv entionally screened smears. All FN cases contained sparse abnormal material (< 10% of the slide). In these potentially difficult cases the diagnosis o n the PAPNET images was not hard. Statistical analysis of the quantitative data indicated that the PAPNET images of the FN cases and the true-positive cases differed in some aspects. PAPNET highlighted the importance of backg round information (old blood, fibrin and necrosis). In addition, all FN sme ars contained cancer cells in the PAPNET images, allowing a correct diagnos is.