Rapid rescreening of cervical smears: an improved method of quality control

Rapid rescreening of approximately 30% of all negative and inadequate consecutive smears was carried out over a 26-month period. Smears (n = 24012) were rescreened using a × 6.3 objective only. Two minutes were allowed for each slide. Thirty-nine smears were found to have been incorrectly diagnosed as negative, a rate of 0.16%. This can be compared with the previous 26 months during which the traditional 1 in 10 random rescreening of unsatisfactory and negative smears had been carried out at a routine pace and with an objective of × 10. A total of 6866 smears were rescreened. Eleven were found to have been incorrectly diagnosed as negative, a rate of 0.16%. Rapid rescreening is as sensitive as 1 in 10 rescreening, and allows a greater proportion of smears to be rescreened. We propose rapid rescreening should replace the traditional 1 in 10 rescreening methods.