Cytological Studies of Cell Sampling Methods in Borderline Lesions and Early Cancer of the Uterine Cervix

Abstract

Cytological studies were performed for the purpose of comparing two kinds of smear preparations obtained by a cotton-bud and a spatula from the uterine cervix. The spatula scraping method was proved to be superior to the cotton-bud method in accurate detection, especially in the cytological diagnosis of dysplasia, while the spatula method is apt to give cytological specimen suggesting more advanced lesions than they really are, or apt to overdiagnose. Smears obtained by a spatula indicated smaller size of cells and higher nuclear cytoplasmic ratio than those by a cotton-bud. These contrasts come from the fact that a spatula scrapes epithelial cells from relatively deeper layers than a cotton-bud. Hence different criteria of morphological identification is required in the diagnosis of smear preparations by these two methods.