Pathologist variation in reporting cervical borderline epithelial abnormalities and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

AIMS: To evaluate the interobserver variation in the diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial lesions, including the new category "borderline abnormalities of uncertain significance" (BAUS) which has not been tested before. METHODS: Biopsy specimens of 122 patients were reviewed by five histopathologists and the diagnoses subjected to kappa statistical analysis. RESULTS: There was poor interobserver agreement in all categories, particularly between BAUS and normal tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The current guidelines for the histological diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and BAUS are poorly reproducible.