Reactive change and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance in Papanicolaou smears: a cytohistologic correlation

Abstract

The purposes of this study were to delineate morphologic criteria for the terms reactive/reparative change (RC) and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), which were proposed by the Bethesda System, and to evaluate the impact of the new terminology on patient management. Using criteria defined in this article, 88 cervical smears originally reported as "atypia" were reclassified as RC (57) and ASCUS (31). Correlation with the colposcopically directed biopsies was as follows: 3/57 RC showed condyloma and 19/31 ASCUS had squamous lesions (14 condyloma, four mild, and one moderate dysplasia). The remainder of the cases had either cervicitis or no significant abnormality histologically. Using the proposed criteria, 61.3% of ASCUS correlated with positive biopsies, compared to 5.2% of the RC cases. Our results indicate that patients with smears showing RC are significantly less likely to have a squamous lesion as compared to those showing ASCUS, and therefore may be managed more conservatively.