Effectiveness of smear technique in detection of pulmonary and gastric cancer

In the initial use of cytologic examination of smears to detect pulmonary and gastric cancer at the Los Angeles County Hospital during the period April 1949 to June 1950, 350 patients with suspicion of pulmonary disease and 128 with gastric problems were studied. In the pulmonary group, 80 per cent of 51 malignant lesions were diagnosed by the smear technique. Sixty per cent of 15 neoplasms in the stomach were diagnosed by the method. The results are analyzed in terms of sensitivity, accuracy, reliability and "yield" for the method. Cytological criteria of the presence of malignant disease are given and illustrated by photomicrographs. The method is one of potentially great value as an aid to diagnosis. Use of it in examination of selected categories of patients seems warranted.