The effectiveness of cytologic evaluation of products of conception

In therapeutic abortions, the major issue of concern to physicians and patients is the documentation of an intrauterine pregnancy and its successful termination. We describe an inexpensive cytologic approach by which results can be obtained in a few hours and a permanent method of documentation provided. Three hundred cases of therapeutic abortion were evaluated by the cytologic method, and 93.7% of cases were positive, ie, they demonstrated the presence of nucleated red blood cells and/or placental villi. By routine histologic examination, 96.3% of the cases were positive. In only 2% of cases was the cytologic finding negative and the histologic finding positive. If the histologic finding is also negative, we recommend, based on our data, that the patient be reevaluated.