Any other pertinent information concerning the reproductive system is welcome. Although much of our time is spent in the laboratory, we pathologists are physicians first. We are interested in the whole patient, not just the cells on the slide. You may be surprised at how helpful our reports can be if we have a little more background information. The abnormal Pap and follow-up biopsy MUST be examined simultaneously by the same pathologist .
Cytopathological correlation is the cornerstone of cervical pathology.
Without it, the clinician cannot determine if the abnormal Pap was significant or not. One never knows unless the Pap and biopsy have been correlated. The easiest way around this problem is to send the biopsy to the same lab that did the Pap smear. If for some reason it is not possible to use the same lab, then call the Pap lab and ask that the patient's slide be sent to the lab charged with examining the biopsy. It has come to my attention that some labs are now refusing to send out Pap smears to other labs for cytopathological correlation.