# WHO Reporting Systems for cytopathology

Source: https://onco.cc/terms/who-cytopathology-reporting-systems/  
OnCo record `who-cytopathology-reporting-systems` (Term). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The World Health Organization's cytopathology reporting systems give each organ a fixed set of report categories for needle and brush samples, each with an estimated risk of cancer and a suggested next step.

## Summary

The International Academy of Cytology, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the WHO are writing international systems for reporting cytopathology of the lung, pancreas and biliary tract, lymph nodes, soft tissue, liver, breast, and kidney and adrenal gland, linked to the fifth edition WHO Classification of Tumours (Field and colleagues, Cancer Cytopathology 2023). The lung and pancreaticobiliary systems were published first. Each defines categories and terminology, an estimated risk of malignancy per category as far as the literature allows, and a diagnostic management algorithm, written to work in low- and middle-income settings too.

## Fields

- Kind: Term
- Last checked: 2026-11-04
- Also known as: WHO Reporting System for Lung Cytopathology; WHO Reporting System for Pancreaticobiliary Cytopathology; WHO cytopathology reporting systems

## Sources

- Field et al., The rationale for the development and publication of the WHO reporting systems for cytopathology and a brief overview (Cancer Cytopathol 2023): https://doi.org/10.1002/cncy.22757

## Connected records

- terms: [Bethesda category (thyroid cytology)](https://onco.cc/terms/bethesda-category/), [International System for Reporting Serous Fluid Cytopathology](https://onco.cc/terms/serous-fluid-cytopathology-system/), [Milan System for Reporting Salivary Gland Cytopathology](https://onco.cc/terms/milan-system-salivary/), [Paris System for Reporting Urinary Cytology](https://onco.cc/terms/paris-system-urinary-cytology/), [Sydney System for lymph node fine-needle aspiration cytopathology](https://onco.cc/terms/sydney-system-lymph-node-fna/), [Yokohama System for Reporting Breast Fine-Needle Aspiration Cytopathology](https://onco.cc/terms/yokohama-system-breast-fna/)
- cancers: [Biliary tract cancer (cholangiocarcinoma)](https://onco.cc/cancers/cholangiocarcinoma/), [Lung cancer (all types)](https://onco.cc/cancers/lung-cancer/), [Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma](https://onco.cc/cancers/pancreatic/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/who-cytopathology-reporting-systems.json