Crystalline bodies in cervical smears. Clinicocytologic correlation.

We examined 6,132 cervical smears, applying strict criteria separating hematoidin cockleburrs from crystalline bodies. We found only crystalline bodies in 37 cases. There was a significant increase in the incidence of crystalline bodies in women taking oral contraceptives and in pregnant women. The bodies were not associated with an increase in complications of pregnancy or of abnormal births. A review of the literature led us to the conclusion that in cervical smears two types of crystalline structures may be found. One of these is the hematoidin body, which is related to hemorrhage during pregnancy and is probably associated with an increase in complications of pregnancy or abnormal births; the other, crystalline bodies, is not. We also conclude that crystalline bodies are much more common than hematoidin bodies. We found an unexpectedly high association of crystalline bodies with low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (CIN1) in cervical smears.