Objectives: To assess whether automated screening in the cytologic examination of Papanicolaou smear slides results in smaller margins of error than manual screening.
Methods: We compared cytotechnologists' performance and reproducibility of manual and automated screening of 10,165 consecutive cervical cytology slides examined at Barretos Cancer Hospital using the FocalPoint system.
Results: In total, 83% of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance and greater were classified as quintiles 1 and 2; no high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions and greater were observed in quintile 5. No statistically significant differences were found between manual and automated screening, using cervical biopsy specimens as the gold standard.
Conclusions: FocalPoint safely screened high-grade lesions, which can be valuable for high-workload routines.
Keywords: Automation; FocalPoint; Pap test; Quality control; SurePath.