Cytologic detection of cervical cancer; four years' experience with routine smear examination in private practice

Simplified Papanicolaou smear techniques appear to be adaptable to private clinical practice when experienced cytodetection laboratory facilities are available. A private physician's office seems potentially an efficient, economical and practical place for detection of cervical cancer by use of the smear technique as a routine part of examination of patients. In a series here reported upon, examination of 11,207 cervical smears taken at the first examination of patients of all ages led to diagnosis of unsuspected malignant disease in 80 cases-in all instances at a stage when it should be easily curable. Cancer was not detected in examination of 6,060 smears taken later from women who had had a "negative" smear at the time of first examination, which seems to indicate that the first screening was reasonably accurate. In a few cases, early cancer was detected when smears were reported as "atypical" or "suspicious." Such reports demand as careful follow-up as do "positive" reports. There are dangers and limitations in wide-spread clinical application of screening by this method. Care must be observed in the development of programs for its use lest the potential benefits in early detection be outweighed by the dangers from misuse.