Postmenopausal vaginal cytohormonal pattern in 597 healthy women and 301 patients with genital cancer.

Cytohormonal evaluation was made on vaginal smears of three groups of women, all over 50 years of age and menopausal for at least one year. The first group consisted of 597 control healthy women, and the second and the third groups consisted of 134 patients with squamous cervical cancer and 167 patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma, respectively. It was found that 4% of the 597 healthy women had vaginal smears with an unequivocal estrogenic effect as compared with a 6% incidence in patients with squamous carcinoma of the cervix and a 12% incidence in patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma. It is concluded that increased estrogenic activity in a woman more than one year after menopause should lead to a thorough clinical investigation to exclude an asymptomatic carcinoma of the cervix or endometrium.