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Artigo Acesso aberto Produção Nacional Revisado por pares
BIBTEX RIS

Quality in cytopathology: an analysis of the internal quality monitoring indicators of the Instituto Nacional de Câncer

2015; Sociedade Brasileira de Patologia Clínica; Volume: 51; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5935/1676-2444.20150018

ISSN

1678-4774

Autores

Mario Lucio C. Araújo Júnior, Daniela Alves Santana, Lívia Beatriz Santos de Almeida, Shirley Borges S. Quintana, Glória Regina F. Silva, Rachel Cavalcanti Fonsêca,

Tópico(s)

Women's cancer prevention and management

Resumo

Introduction: Quality control programs are required to ensure the effectiveness of Pap smear, which still remain a key strategy for control of cervical cancer worldwide.Objective: This study was based on the retrospective and quantitative analysis of the post-analytical phase indicators from the internal quality monitoring (IQM) program for cytopathology laboratories, such as: positivity rate, atypical squamous cell (ASC)/satisfactory exams ratio, ASC/abnormal test results ratio, ASC/squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) ratio, percentage of tests compatible with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL), and total of false negative.Materials and methods: The information was extracted from the computerized system of the Section for Integrated Technology in Cytopathology (Seção Integrada de Tecnologia em Citopatologia [SITEC]), a reference institution for cancer cytopathology, from July 2013 to June 2014.From a total of 156,888 Pap smears, 157,454 were considered satisfactory for indicator analysis and 566 were excluded because they were considered unsatisfactory and/or rejected for analysis.The data was organized in tables using Microsoft Excel 2010 software, and categorized as indicators.Results: The averages for the indicators were: 7.2% for positivity rate, 56.9 for ASC/abnormal test ratio, 4.1 for ASC/satisfactory tests ratio, 1.4 for ASC/SIL ratio, 0.6% percentage for tests compatible with HSIL, and 2.1% for false-negative rate.Conclusion: The results show that an Internal Quality Monitoring Program is essencial to ensure quality for cytopathology laboratories, and a randomized review of at least 10% of the negative exams, as recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health/Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA), since is an effective method, especially for large laboratories.

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