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Use of human papillomavirus DNA testing to compare equivocal cervical cytologic interpretations in the United States, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom

Scott, David R ; Hagmar, Bjorn ; Maddox, Peter ; Hjerpe, Anders ; Dillner, Joakim LU ; Cuzick, Jack ; Sherman, Mark E ; Stoler, Mark H ; Kurman, Robert J and Kiviat, Nancy B , et al. (2002) In Cancer 96(1). p.14-20
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing may be useful in clarifying equivocal cervical cytologic interpretations. One application might be to standardize the meaning of equivocal interpretations from laboratories in various regions. Because international differences may be particularly marked, international comparisons of emerging data will require clear translations of "equivocal" and similar terms. METHODS: To perform a three-country comparison, the authors selected a morphologically diverse set of 188 conventional Papanicolaou tests initially classified as "squamous atypia" from a study of more than 20,000 women in Portland, Oregon (1989-1990). Previously, five U.S. expert cytopathologists independently interpreted the slides... (More)
BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing may be useful in clarifying equivocal cervical cytologic interpretations. One application might be to standardize the meaning of equivocal interpretations from laboratories in various regions. Because international differences may be particularly marked, international comparisons of emerging data will require clear translations of "equivocal" and similar terms. METHODS: To perform a three-country comparison, the authors selected a morphologically diverse set of 188 conventional Papanicolaou tests initially classified as "squamous atypia" from a study of more than 20,000 women in Portland, Oregon (1989-1990). Previously, five U.S. expert cytopathologists independently interpreted the slides with screening cytotechnologists' marks in place. For this comparison, one British and two Scandinavian reviewers involved in HPV research reviewed the slides after original marks had been removed. The authors compared all eight reviewers' classifications of negative, equivocal, or abnormal in a series of pairwise comparisons using the kappa statistic. They then compared cytologic interpretations with HPV DNA testing. RESULTS: Oncogenic HPV DNA detection was significantly associated with increasingly abnormal interpretations for each reader. The British reader tended to rate tests as more abnormal than the American pathologists did, whereas the Scandinavians tended to rate tests as more normal. Reference to the HPV DNA standard clarified the tendency of readers to render systematically more or less severe interpretations. For example, the Scandinavian cytologists discounted subtle (often HPV-associated) changes in favor of cytologic certainty, making HPV triage of equivocal tests less applicable there. CONCLUSIONS: International research on cytopathology, particularly on the possible uses of HPV DNA testing, will require calibration of local cytologic definitions. (Less)
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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Cancer
volume
96
issue
1
pages
14 - 20
publisher
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
external identifiers
  • pmid:11836698
  • scopus:0037170129
ISSN
1097-0142
DOI
10.1002/cncr.10317
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
df51f960-8277-43f1-9b5d-649f4e55e31a (old id 1124318)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 11:37:24
date last changed
2024-01-07 14:20:50
@article{df51f960-8277-43f1-9b5d-649f4e55e31a,
  abstract     = {{BACKGROUND: Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing may be useful in clarifying equivocal cervical cytologic interpretations. One application might be to standardize the meaning of equivocal interpretations from laboratories in various regions. Because international differences may be particularly marked, international comparisons of emerging data will require clear translations of "equivocal" and similar terms. METHODS: To perform a three-country comparison, the authors selected a morphologically diverse set of 188 conventional Papanicolaou tests initially classified as "squamous atypia" from a study of more than 20,000 women in Portland, Oregon (1989-1990). Previously, five U.S. expert cytopathologists independently interpreted the slides with screening cytotechnologists' marks in place. For this comparison, one British and two Scandinavian reviewers involved in HPV research reviewed the slides after original marks had been removed. The authors compared all eight reviewers' classifications of negative, equivocal, or abnormal in a series of pairwise comparisons using the kappa statistic. They then compared cytologic interpretations with HPV DNA testing. RESULTS: Oncogenic HPV DNA detection was significantly associated with increasingly abnormal interpretations for each reader. The British reader tended to rate tests as more abnormal than the American pathologists did, whereas the Scandinavians tended to rate tests as more normal. Reference to the HPV DNA standard clarified the tendency of readers to render systematically more or less severe interpretations. For example, the Scandinavian cytologists discounted subtle (often HPV-associated) changes in favor of cytologic certainty, making HPV triage of equivocal tests less applicable there. CONCLUSIONS: International research on cytopathology, particularly on the possible uses of HPV DNA testing, will require calibration of local cytologic definitions.}},
  author       = {{Scott, David R and Hagmar, Bjorn and Maddox, Peter and Hjerpe, Anders and Dillner, Joakim and Cuzick, Jack and Sherman, Mark E and Stoler, Mark H and Kurman, Robert J and Kiviat, Nancy B and Manos, M Michele and Schiffman, Mark}},
  issn         = {{1097-0142}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{14--20}},
  publisher    = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
  series       = {{Cancer}},
  title        = {{Use of human papillomavirus DNA testing to compare equivocal cervical cytologic interpretations in the United States, Scandinavia, and the United Kingdom}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/cncr.10317}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/cncr.10317}},
  volume       = {{96}},
  year         = {{2002}},
}