Microinvasive cervical squamous cell carcinoma in Slovenia during the period 2001-2007.

Background: Microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (MISCC) comprises a significant portion of all cervical cancers in Slovenia. Criteria of carcinomatous invasion are well described in the literature, however histopathological assessment of MISCC is difficult, because morphological characteristics can overlap with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN 3) and other pathological changes. The aim of our study was to evaluate the reliability of the histopathological diagnosis of MISCC in Slovenia during the period from 2001 to 2007.

Aberrant expression of long noncoding RNAs in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

Objective: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a unique class of messenger RNA-like transcripts of at least 200 nucleotides in length with no significant protein-coding capacity. Aberrant lncRNA expression is emerging as a major component of the cancer transcriptome. Here, we sought to determine if differential lncRNA expression is a feature of the human cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) transcriptome.

Using LongSAGE to Detect Biomarkers of Cervical Cancer Potentially Amenable to Optical Contrast Agent Labelling.

Sixteen longSAGE libraries from four different clinical stages of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia have enabled us to identify novel cell-surface biomarkers indicative of CIN stage. By comparing gene expression profiles of cervical tissue at early and advanced stages of CIN, several genes are identified to be novel genetic markers. We present fifty-six cell-surface gene products differentially expressed during progression of CIN.

Kappa statistics to measure interrater and intrarater agreement for 1790 cervical biopsy specimens among twelve pathologists: qualitative histopathologic analysis and methodologic issues.

Background: As part of a program project to evaluate emerging optical technologies for cervical neoplasia, we performed fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopic examinations of patients with abnormal Papanicolaou smears. Biopsy specimens were taken from each area and measured optically, and study pathologists performed qualitative histopathologic readings. Several methodologic issues arose in this analysis: (1) the interpathologist and intrapathologist agreement between institutions for the 1790 biopsy specimens; (2) the interinstitutional agreement among the two institutions conducting the trials on 117 randomly chosen biopsy specimens; (3) the interinstitutional agreement among the two institutions and a third expert gynecologic pathologist to ensure the expert readings were comparable to those outside both institutions on 117 randomly chosen biopsy specimens; and (4) an additional three reviews of the 106 difficult biopsy specimens by all three institutions.

The quality of community colposcopic practice.

Objective: To estimate the quality of community colposcopic practice in British Columbia through an assessment of the degree of correlation between colposcopy, cytology, and histology.

Method: We reviewed all new-patient colposcopies in British Columbia during 2001 by 37 gynecologists in 24 hospital-based clinics.

Results: Colposcopic impression closely mirrored the referral cytology diagnosis in 89.

Cervical cleaning improves Pap smear quality.

Background: Cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening is an effective method of detecting cytological changes in the cervix before they lead to cervical cancer. However, the quality of a Pap smear can be compromised by inflammatory exudate, inadequate cellularity or failure to sample the transformation zone. We evaluated the effect of routine cervical cleaning on Pap smear quality.