The South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare announced an administrative notice on October 23 revising national cancer screening standards to overhaul cervical cancer reporting categories and introduce follow-up recommendations on result records.
Revised Cervical Cancer Screening Categories
The Ministry of Health and Welfare proposed dividing cervical cancer screening results into five distinct classifications: normal, low-risk, high-risk, suspected cervical cancer, and uninterpretable. This classification update is designed to incorporate revisions to the Bethesda system used for cervical cytology results and to better reflect the necessity of follow-up care based on examination findings.
Under the proposed standards, normal findings indicate no intraepithelial lesion or malignancy. Low-risk classifications cover atypical squamous cells (general), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, atypical glandular cells (general), and endometrial cells found in women aged 45 or older. High-risk findings include atypical squamous cells (high-risk), high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, atypical glandular cells (neoplastic), and adenocarcinoma in situ. Invasive squamous cell carcinoma and invasive adenocarcinoma fall under the suspected cervical cancer category. When specimens are inadequate for proper evaluation due to cell observation status, examiners will classify the test as uninterpretable and recommend a rescreen.
Follow-Up Recommendations on Result Sheets
Result records will now feature a designated section allowing medical professionals to select appropriate follow-up actions. Doctors can choose from four specific recommendations: no additional action required, professional consultation and recommended tests, prompt specialist examination and recommended treatment, or rescreening due to uninterpretable results. If a screening yields multiple classifications, the record will display the most severe category.
The revised guidelines also state that reactive cellular changes or infection-related additional findings should be classified as normal if no intraepithelial lesion or malignancy is present. The records will explicitly note that these additional findings alone cannot confirm non-cervical diseases.
Implementation Timeline and Public Consultation
The Ministry of Health and Welfare set the public comment period for the administrative notice through November 13. The revised standards are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.
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