The value of routine cytologic smears in pregnancy

Abstract A report of 10,369 obstetric patients who had routine vaginal smears has been presented. One hundred and five patients had positive smears and, of these, 25 were found to have either invasive or in situ carcinoma of the cervix. In addition 19 cases showed basal cell hyperplasia. There seems to be enough carcinoma of the cervix in younger women, especially those bearing children, to warrant the routine use of vaginal smears in pregnancy. In addition to those patients found to have cervical malignancies there are also those with basal cell hyperplasia which should be watched carefully for a possible progression of this lesion to malignancy.