P3 abnormal smear test result

[daisygatsby]

hello, ive had two abnormal smears. the doc told me that the first one was P4 and the second P3. Ive googled but have only found CIN1 2 and 3 with reference to abnormal smears. does anyone know what P3 or P4 means?

Where do you live - not Britain I'm guessing? Can you confirm please as this isn't the terms that the NHS Cervical Screening Programme uses?
What management/investigation has the doctor suggested?

Bump for OP

bela - thanks for replying. im in ireland.
doctor says if next one come back the same ill probably have to have a colposcopy. im not too worried as she said P1 was normal but just curious about what it meant

The NHS screening programme uses a reporting system which talks about grades of dyskaryosis (dyskaryosis is a greek word for used to describe abnormal changes).
The US and other countries use the Bethesda reporting system which talks about LSIL, HSIL and ASCUS.

The smear or "Pap" test was invented by a greek chap called Papanicolaou.
The original reporting and classification system was called class I, class II etc.
I'm guessing that Ireland has combined the "class" term and the Papanicolaou bit to make P1, P2 etc. I've contacted someone I know who worked in Ireland to ask them if that's what they mean. Will let you know! :)

ah thanks bela, thats very good of you. i wondered if the P was related to Pap!

its strange that i couldnt find anythnig on google about if it is used nationally in ireland. unless my gp has made up her own system!

Hi
Possibly a daft question but have you seen the Irish screening programme website? here I haven't read all of it but it doesn't refer to P1 etc, it uses the Bethesda reporting system. I've had back and my contact wasn't aware of these terms but did remind me that most of the screening was being sent to the US for reading and reporting which would fit with the use of Bethesda.
Did you have it done as part of CervicalCheck or under private insurance? Personally I would like to know how those results translate into another recognised reporting system so you can make an informed decision as whether you should have further investigation.
Did you get a written result and a leaflet explaining the result, as that's fairly standard for most screening programmes.