The Role of Cervical Cytology in the Detection of Adenocarcinoma and Glandular Intraepithelial Neoplasia of the Cervix –A Retrospective Study

SummaryThe predictive accuracies for cervical glandular intraepithelial neoplasia and adenocarcinoma from a cyto-logical finding of endocervical dyskaryosis were examined for 82 patients with endocervical dyskaryosis on a referral cervical smear and for 54 patients with histologically identified adenocarcinoma or cervical glandular intra-epithelial neoplasia.Glandular dyskaryosis on a smear had a positive predictive value for cervical glandular intra-epithelial neoplasia or adenocarcinoma of 60 per cent. If those cases in which the histology showed only cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia grades 2 and 3 were included, the positive predictive value rose to 91 per cent.The finding of glandular abnormality in a cervical smear is therefore highly predictive of significant underlying pathology.