Cytologic detection of endometrial carcinoma by the endocyte technique.

Ninety-seven patients admitted for diagnostic curettage of peri- and postmenopausal bleeding underwent cytologic evaluation by the endocyte technique in order to test the accuracy of the method. Six patients with endometrial carcinoma were diagnosed by curettage and in five of them the cytologic specimens correctly agreed with histology; the other case was an inadequate sample for cytologic diagnosis. Hyperplastic endometrium was found in 14 cases by curettage; only three of them had been detected by cytology. This cytologic technique proved to be satisfactory in diagnosing endometrial cancer but inadequate for detection of premalignant lesions.