Cervical cytology in pregnant black patients and potential selective screening programmes

A study to evaluate the detection rate of abnormal cervices in pregnancy was undertaken at King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban. Cervical smears were taken from 2 000 randomly selected patients in the antenatal clinic. Twenty-two smears were abnormal (1,1%), of which 12 were carcinoma in situ (0,6%). We feel that cytological examination of cervical smears should be performed routinely on all antenatal patients, but if this is not possible, it should be performed on those of 25 years or older or of parity 2 or greater. This selective screening would then diagnose 92% of the patients with carcinoma in situ.