Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1989 Mar;42(3):231–238. doi: 10.1136/jcp.42.3.231

Observer variability in histopathological reporting of cervical biopsy specimens.

A J Robertson 1, J M Anderson 1, J S Beck 1, R A Burnett 1, S R Howatson 1, F D Lee 1, A M Lessells 1, K M McLaren 1, S M Moss 1, J G Simpson 1, et al.
PMCID: PMC1141860  PMID: 2539400

Abstract

Sections from 100 cervical biopsy specimens were studied by 12 consultant histopathologists to determine the robustness of the existing pathology terminology and classification. Analysis by kappa statistics showed good agreement in the diagnosis of CIN 3 and squamous carcinoma but an inability to distinguish accurately between the lesser grades of CIN. It is recommended that the classification be changed to low grade (present CIN 1 and 2) and high grade (present CIN 3) categories alone. There was very poor agreement in the identification of cellular changes associated with human papilloma virus (HPV) infection.

Full text

PDF
231

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Beck J. S. Observer variability in reporting of breast lesions. J Clin Pathol. 1985 Dec;38(12):1358–1365. doi: 10.1136/jcp.38.12.1358. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Buckley C. H., Butler E. B., Fox H. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. J Clin Pathol. 1982 Jan;35(1):1–13. doi: 10.1136/jcp.35.1.1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Byrne P., Woodman C., Meanwell C., Kelley K., Jordan J. Koilocytes and cervical human papillomavirus infection. Lancet. 1986 Jan 25;1(8474):205–206. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(86)90669-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dekmezian R., Chen X., Kuo T., Ordóez N., Katz R. L. DNA hybridization for human papillomavirus (HPV) in cervical lesions. Relationship of the presence of various viral subtypes to expression of HPV structural proteins, involucrin, and carcinoembryonic antigen. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1987 Jan;111(1):22–27. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dundas S. A., Kay R., Beck S., Cotton D. W., Coup A. J., Slater D. N., Underwood J. C. Can histopathologists reliably assess dysplasia in chronic inflammatory bowel disease? J Clin Pathol. 1987 Nov;40(11):1282–1286. doi: 10.1136/jcp.40.11.1282. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Evans D. M., Hudson E. A., Brown C. L., Boddington M. M., Hughes H. E., Mackenzie E. F., Marshall T. Terminology in gynaecological cytopathology: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Clinical Cytology. J Clin Pathol. 1986 Sep;39(9):933–944. doi: 10.1136/jcp.39.9.933. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Howie P. W. The progestogen-only pill. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1985 Oct;92(10):1001–1002. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1985.tb02993.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Jenkins D., Tay S. K., Maddox P. H. Routine papillomavirus antigen staining of cervical punch biopsy specimens. J Clin Pathol. 1987 Oct;40(10):1212–1216. doi: 10.1136/jcp.40.10.1212. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Kjaersgaard-Andersen P., Christensen F., Schmidt S. A., Pedersen N. W., Jørgensen B. A new method of estimation of interobserver variation and its application to the radiological assessment of osteoarthrosis in hip joints. Stat Med. 1988 Jun;7(6):639–647. doi: 10.1002/sim.4780070603. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Landis J. R., Koch G. G. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics. 1977 Mar;33(1):159–174. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Lee F. D., Burnett R. A. Quality assurance in histopathology. J Pathol. 1987 Aug;152(4):247–251. doi: 10.1002/path.1711520402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Patchefsky A. S., Potok J., Hoch W. S., Libshitz H. I. Increased detection of occult breast carcinoma after more thorough histologic examination of breast biopsies. Am J Clin Pathol. 1973 Dec;60(6):799–804. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/60.6.799. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ringsted J., Amtrup F., Asklund C., Baunsgaard P., Christensen H. E., Hansen L., Jakobsen C., Jensen K., Moesner J., Rasmussen J. Reliability of histo-pathological diagnosis of squamous epithelial changes of the uterine cervix. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand A. 1978 Jul;86(4):273–278. doi: 10.1111/j.1699-0463.1978.tb02043.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Sanders D. S., Kerr M. A., Hopwood D., Coghill G. Expression of the CD 15 antigen is a marker of cellular differentiation in cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN). J Pathol. 1988 Jul;155(3):207–212. doi: 10.1002/path.1711550305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sincock A. M., Evans-Jones J., Partington C. K., Steele S. J. Quantitative assessment of cervical neoplasia by hydrolysed DNA assay. Lancet. 1987 Oct 24;2(8565):942–943. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(87)91423-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Singer A., Tay S. K., Griffin J. F., Wickens D. G., Dormandy T. L. Diagnosis of cervical neoplasia by the estimation of octadeca-9,11-dienoic acid. Lancet. 1987 Mar 7;1(8532):537–539. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(87)90177-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES