The cytomorphologic and cytometric manifestations of cervical reparative processes

The process of tissue repair or regeneration is the attempt of the injured tissue to be restructured and to reestablish its function as it existed prior to injury. The cytologic alterations depend on the original tissue site, the elapsed time after the incurred injury as well as on the type of the injury itself. From a practical standpoint, the importance of the recognition of tissue repair alterations as such, is the avoidance of false positive cytologic diagnoses and/or the under evaluation of existing malignant lesions with potentially severe clinical consequences. The computerized on-line file of patients examined cytologically and histologically since the year 1959 which contains over two million patient records was searched for those cases identified as "tissue repair". The major criteria of cytomorphology of tissue repair and differential diagnoses are described. For the purpose of enhancing the differential diagnostic accuracy two procedures useful as diagnostic aids are presented: (1) local administration of estrogens, and (2) computerized cell image analyses evaluated and guided by an artificial intelligence expert system.