The Bethesda System for Reporting Cervical/Vaginal Cytologic Diagnoses

The Bethesda System (TBS) for Reporting CervicaVVaginal Cytologic Diagnoses was developed at a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-sponsored workshop in December 1988 to provide uniform diagnostic terminology that would facilitate communication between the laboratory and the clinician. The format ofTBS report includes a descriptive diagnosis and an evaluation of specimen adequacy. TBS was designed to be flexible so that it could evolve in response to changing needs in cervical cancer screening as we