The potentialities of the smear technique for the differentiation of noninvasive and invasive cervical carcinoma

The differentiation of invasive and noninvasive carcinoma of the cervix uteri by means of cytological smears is described and the potentialities of this technique are discussed. The differentiation is based on an evaluation of the surroundings of the epithelial cells, a quantitative relationship of various cell types, and the locality and degree of degeneration of the abnormal cells, but not on any specific cellular criteria. The practical value of this differential analysis is limited. Nevertheless, a diagnostic accuracy of more than 85 per cent can be achieved with such a subjective technique.