Abstract BACKGROUND The 1991 Bethesda System for cervical/vaginal cytology reporting
defined adequacy criteria for the unsatisfactory designation. Most laboratories have
implemented these criteria, but clinical implications have not been established. METHODS
Researchers at two university hospitals retrieved by computer search all unsatisfactory
Papanicolaou (Pap) smears taken between January 1994 and July 1995. Of 71,872 total
Pap smears, 208 (0.3%) were unsatisfactory (corresponding atypical rate of 9% and a …

The 1991 Bethesda System for cervical/vaginal cytology reporting has defined adequacy
criteria, including unsatisfactory designation. Most laboratories in USA and a few
laboratories in Iran have implemented these criteria, but only few studies about clinical
implications have been performed. All unsatisfactory Papanicolaou (Pap) smears taken
between August 2000 and March 2002 were retrieved from the file of cytologic reports of
Mirza Koochak Khan Hospitals Department of Pathology. Of 4,598 total Pap smears 204 …