The cytologic history of 245 patients developing invasive cervical carcinoma.

A review was made of the cytologic history of 245 patients who developed invasive carcinoma of the cervix, and three groups of patients were identified. Group 1 included 149 patients (60.8%) who had never had a cervical cytologic examination, group 2 included 26 patients (10.6%) whose cytologic history in terms of frequency of examination and or timing was considered to be unsatisfactory, and group 3 included 70 patients (28.6%) whose cytologic history was considered to be satisfactory. Only 53 (35.6%) of the patients in group 1 had Stage I disease. Stage I disease was present in 16 patients (61.5%) of group 2 and in 55 patients (78.6%) of group 3. There was no significant difference between the three groups with respect to site of residence or access to the health care system. Of the patients in group 3, 20 (28.6%) had normal cytologic findings and 50 (71.4%) had abnormal cytologic findings. Of the 50 patients with abnormal cytologic findings, 31 (62.0%) did not have further examination for 6 months or longer after identification of the abnormal smear. The majority of these patients had minor degrees of cytologic abnormalities. A review of 299 original cervical smears revealed that 52 (17.4%) had been significantly undercalled, but only 21 (7.0%) had been undercalled as normal. In this study, 28 patients (11.4%) developed adenocarcinoma. In these patients, staging was unrelated to screening.