Cervical Screening Programme, England - 2019-20 [NS]

HPV result

• Negative (result code 0)
  This indicates that high risk HPV was not found.
   
• Positive (result code 9)
  This indicates that high risk HPV was found.
   
• Unavailable (result code U)
  This indicates no result was able to be obtained from the sample.
   

Cytology result

• Negative
  This indicates that no cell abnormalities were found.
   
• Borderline change (in squamous or endocervical cells)
  These are small changes found in the cells of the cervix which often return to normal by themselves.
  The term ‘borderline change in squamous cells’ describes morphological alterations to squamous cells that fall short of low-grade dyskaryosis.
  Borderline change in endocervical cells describes atypical endocervical cells where dyskaryosis cannot be excluded.
   
• Low-grade dyskaryosis
  Dyskaryosis is the name given to small changes that are found in the cells of the cervix (the neck of the womb). Low-grade dyskaryosis is associated with CIN1 (see Appendix E).
  These changes are not cancer, and in most cases do not lead to cancer in the future.
   
• High-grade dyskaryosis (moderate) or high-grade dyskaryosis (severe)
  These areas of changed cells are associated with CIN grades 2 and 3 respectively (see Appendix E).
   
• High-grade dyskaryosis/?invasive squamous carcinoma
  This indicates probable CIN3 with additional features suggesting the possibility of invasive cancer.
  ?invasive squamous carcinoma is shown as ?invasive carcinoma in the tables and commentary for ease of reporting.
   
• ?Glandular neoplasia of endocervical type
  This shows cytological features suggestive of cervical glandular intra-epithelial neoplasia (CGIN) or endocervical adenocarcinoma.
   
• ?Glandular neoplasia (non-cervical)
  This category is used where no cervical cell abnormalities were found but the sample contained features suggesting a diagnosis of endometrial, ovarian or metastatic lesions from beyond the genital tract.

The terms ‘potential cervical cancer’, ‘abnormal’, ‘negative’ and ‘inadequate’ are used within the report to represent groupings of the result categories detailed above.

They are defined as follows in terms of the categories used on the cytology report form HMR 101/5:

Potential cervical cancer
HMR 101/5 cat. 5 (high-grade dyskaryosis/?invasive squamous carcinoma) or cat. 6 (?glandular neoplasia of endocervical type); women who have such test results should be referred urgently for further investigation.

Abnormal
HMR 101/5 cat. 8 (borderline change in squamous cells), cat. 9 (borderline change in endocervical cells), cat. 3 (low-grade dyskaryosis), cat. 7 (high-grade dyskaryosis (moderate)), cat. 4 (high-grade dyskaryosis (severe)), cat. 5 & 6 (see potential cancer above).

Negative
HMR 101/5 cat. 2 (negative); women with a negative test result will usually be returned to the screening programme to be called again at the normal interval (3 or 5 years).

Shorter recall intervals may be appropriate for women under surveillance or follow-up after treatment.

Inadequate
HMR 101/5 cat. 1 (inadequate); inadequate means it was not possible to obtain a valid result from the sample.

Women with inadequate samples will be recalled for a repeat test. Women with 3 consecutive inadequate results should be referred to colposcopy for further investigation. Under HPV primary screening, women are referred for colposcopy after 2 consecutive tests with any combination of HPV unavailable or cytology inadequate