Clinical significance of atypical cells in papanicolaou smears.

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study was done on 120 patients with atypical cells in Papanicolaou smears obtained during a five-year period (1982-1986) at the Cytology Unit, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University. The patients were divided into three groups according to diagnostic procedures. Each group consisted of 44, 46 and 30 patients respectively. Group I had normal cervices on examination and were referred for colposcopy. Group II had suspicious cervices, and biopsies were done on grossly visible lesions. Group III had histories of abnormal uterine bleeding and underwent diagnostic fractional curettages. Of group I, 11 (25%) were found to have CIN 1-3 and 4 (9.1%) had invasive carcinoma. Of group II, 4 (8.7%) were found to have CIN 2-3, 13 (28.3%) had invasive carcinoma. Of group III, 12 (40%) were found to have endometrial hyperplasia and 6 (20%) had endometrial carcinoma. It appears that a Papanicolaou smear report of atypical cells should be considered abnormal, further evaluation is required according to the clinical presentation of the patient.