[The use of the cervix brush for early diagnosis of cervix uteri cancer: quality of the smear].

: From may 1988 till may 1989, a cervix-brush has been used to take smears by a group of general practitioners involved in a cervical cancer screening program. These smears are compared--retrospectively--with a selection of smears from previous cervical cancer screening programs. The collection devices previously used were an Ayre spatula and an Ayre spatula combined with a cotton tipped swab. All smears have been cytologically examined by the Center for Cancer Prevention of the UIA and have been described using the standardized KOPA-method. 3 Groups of smears have been included in the study: --group 1 (n = 299): use of a cervix-brush --group 2 (n = 1315): use of an Ayre spatula --group 3 (n = 1450): use of an Ayre spatula + cotton tipped swab. Concerning their previous experience in taking smears, all the participating GP's are considered to be comparable. There was a slight difference in the age distribution of the women examined, between group 1 and the other 2 groups. From this study, we concluded: --a larger number of smears from the group using the cervix-brush (group 1) has been described as having "good quality". This result was confirmed after matching for age group. --the number of abnormal smears detected was comparable for all groups.