Reducing the error rate in Papanicolaou smears. One laboratory's experience with the PAPNET system.

False-negative Papanicolaou smears not only endanger the patient's life, but may also lead to legal problems for the clinician. The PAPNET interactive computerized system has been shown to reduce the false-negative rate in the author's laboratory, and disclosed the presence of atypical or cancerous cells in prior false-negative smears in a number of patients with invasive carcinoma.