High-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs), including type 16, have been identified as factors in cervical carcinogenesis. However, the presence and expression of the virus per se appear to be insufficient for carcinogenesis. Rather, cofactors most likely are necessary in addition to viral gene expression to initiate neoplasia. One candidate cofactor is prolonged exposure to sex hormones. To exami...

The Papanicolaou smear is a highly effective screening test for the detection of cervical neoplastic changes. The success of the test has resulted in unrealistic expectations of the accuracy of the test by both referring medical practitioners and the public. However, as with any pathological test, it has irreducible false negative and positive rates. This report is a comparison between interpre...

"Low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion" (LSIL-H) is an increasingly used, equivocal interpretive category in gynecologic cytology. In an effort to evaluate its potential usefulness as a measure of quality assurance, we studied patterns of use of the LSIL-H diagnosis compared with "LSIL" and "high-grade squamous intraepithelia...

BACKGROUND We have retrospectively assessed the incidence and outcome of women diagnosed during a hospital-based cytology screening program with "atypical squamous cells (ASC)" and followed-up with loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP). METHODS We analyzed 173,947 cases of cervical smears' follow-up cytology and histology findings. Previous or archival cytology with LEEP results were retr...