How quickly can a practitioner get a report on a Pap smear?
If you write ‘urgent’ on the Cytology Request Form, we will give this smear preference over others. In general, urgent reports are available on the day the smear is received at VCS or on the next working day. We will either send the results to you electronically or we will fax the results to you. What causes a high rate of unsatisfactory smears? Overall, VCS reports about 1.5% of Pap smears as being unsatisfactory. The common reasons for this include obscuring of the cervical cells by blood or inflammation, and insufficient numbers of squamous cells on the slide. Sometimes inadequate fixation of the cells occurs. Many of these underpinning causes are beyond the control of the practitioner collecting the smear or the laboratory. Some unsatisfactory reports could be avoided by collecting smears in a different manner. Please refer to our instructions for taking a Pap smear Why is endocervical sampling important? Most precancerous abnormalities of the cervix commence in the transformation
