Is There a Place for the Introduction of Colposcopy Quality Standards?

Objectives: The aims of the study were to examine the degree of compliance with international quality measures for colposcopy in Israel, which does not currently have formal guidelines and to compare the achievement of quality measures between clinical settings.

Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study, in a hospital, a community clinic, and 2 private colposcopy clinics in Israel, including women aged 18-70 years presenting for colposcopy after abnormal Pap results. Compliance was compared between clinical sites regarding 6 international standards: documentation of reason for referral, type of transformation zone, biopsy location, and grade; proportion of women with high-degree cytological abnormalities (atypical squamous cells - cannot exclude high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion and above) receiving a colposcopy within 4 weeks; and the positive predictive value of colposcopy to detect cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 and above.

Results: Documentation of reason for referral (1.3% of target), transformation zone type (22.6% of target), biopsy location (18% of target), and lesion grade (31% of target) all failed to meet international standards, as did the proportion of patients with high-degree cytological abnormalities who underwent colposcopy within 4 weeks (32.9% of the target). The positive predictive value of colposcopy exceeded standards (30% above target). Differences existed between clinical settings.

Conclusions: In Israel, there is a considerable shortfall in performance and documentation of most international quality measures for colposcopy. Quality measures for cervical examinations and colposcopy should be considered for inclusion in the National Program for Quality Measures.