Field Trial of the Cytoanalyzer: 1,184 Specimens Analyzed

After much research and development the Cytoanalyzer was subjected to its first clinical trial. In this preliminary attempt to prescreen electronically specially prepared uterovaginal specimens, 1,184 specimens were used including 1,163 negatives and 21 from patients with uterine cervical malignancy. The lowest value obtained from any positive smear was established as an arbitrary base-line value of abnormal cells per smear. With this value, 36.6 percent of the smears scanned could have been eliminated as negatives without cytotechnical screening. The results of this trial are encouraging and indicate that automatic electronic prescreening of smears can be an aid to the field of exfoliative cytology.