Quality control in cytopathology applied to screening for cervical carcinoma

When screening for cervical carcinoma became one of the priorities of the European Community (1992), the "European Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Cervical Cancer Screening" proposed an organisation of the screening program. In the following years, Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QC) was organized in many countries. The whole staff of the laboratory has to participate in the organization of Internal QC programs: errors must be detected in all categories of smears and the same terminology has to be adopted. External QC is well accepted when organized by the pathologists themselves. The French program is presented. In the near future, pathologists should take into account the evolution of QC, and the role of modern methods such as telecytopathology and computer-assisted screening devices.