title: Estimation of proportion of the patients with a very low number of tumor cells from carcinoma in situ in the cervical smear.
abstract: The proportion of patients with cervical carcinoma in situ exhibiting a very low number of tumor cells in cytologic samples from the female reproductive tract was assessed with a model based on a multivariate beta distribution. The results of the study indicate that it is highly unlikely that a case of carcinoma in situ will be missed when 50,000 cells are screened in a given sample. However, the study also shows the importance of sampling methodology in the design of screening systems for cervical cancer and the crucial role that the coefficient of variation between patients assumes.
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002452:Cell Count; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013048:Specimen Handling; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014626:Vaginal Smears