[Diagnosis of occult fallopian tube cancers by intraoperative peritoneal cytology]

Clinical and ultrasonographic examination are the usual methods of diagnosis for carcinomas of the fallopian tubes and ovarian carcinomas. It is only in rare cases that the diagnosis is based on the cytology of the cervical smear. The use of cytology--more exactly, the cytological examination of secretion in Douglas' space in cases of vaginal hysterectomies--for the detection of ovarian and tubal carcinomas that cannot be diagnosed by clinical and paraclinical procedures, is a rather unusual and rarely described method. However, it is quite justified, as demonstrated by the detection of two carcinomas of the fallopian tubes within a short time.