ENAC has recently granted accreditation to the Spanish Society of Cytology for organising proficiency tests for laboratories carrying out two types of tests to detect cervical cancer, thereby becoming the first provider of proficiency tests accredited in Spain for this activity.

Specifically, these two tests, which are part of the SEC's Q-PAP Quality Control Program, are the microscopic observation of cervical-vaginal cytology samples (morphological Q-Pap) and the molecular test for detecting the human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer, by real-time PCR (molecular Q-Pap).

Dr. Francesc Alameda, director of the Spanish Society of Cytology's Quality Control Program, claims that the number of gynecological samples received by Pathological Anatomy services is high, sometimes reaching 40% of the entire volume of the service's work. In the words of Dr. Alameda, “these are tests that detect treatable and curable preneoplastic lesions, a fact that explains the decrease in cervical cancer's frequency in Spain over the last 50 years, until it stabilized”.

As for the reasons that led to the Spanish Society of Cytology requesting accreditation for this program, he states: “We believe that it is important to develop quality control mechanisms for these diagnoses, mainly based on the consequences for patients of diagnostic errors. Likewise, the SEC, in charge of ensuring the quality of cytological diagnosis, raised the need to have a program that helps to carry out these quality controls. Hence, the program was developed aimed at applying for ENAC's accreditation, seeking a greater increase in diagnostic quality in cytology and also in HPV tests, since it is part of screening”.

Likewise, for the Q-PAP Program director, participating in this external ENAC-accredited  quality program gives clinical laboratories confidence in terms of “quality, confidentiality of results, impartiality of the entire process of choosing samples, diagnosis, etc., and integrity of the people who work in it”.

As for the benefits to the patients, Dr. Alameda stresses: “it is stated in Medical Literature that those services or institutions taking part in intercomparison programs progressively increase their diagnostic quality. Therefore, it is highly recommended that a Pathological Anatomy Service participates in intercomparisons both in its surgical pathology and cytopathology aspects but also in its laboratories that are not strictly morphological such as the Molecular Pathology Laboratory. Higher diagnostic quality is undoubtedly beneficial for patients”.