title: Reporting of an endocervical component after a previous cervical biopsy.
abstract: The rate of reporting endocervical cells in the Papanicolaou smears of 579 women with a past history of cervical biopsy was compared with an age matched control group of women. During a time period when only spatulae (Ayre Lerner and Aylesbury) were used for sampling, 55% of the cases and 53% of the controls had the presence of endocervical cells reported. When cytobrushes as well as spatulae were used, the proportion rose to 70% for cases and 73% for controls. We conclude that the probability of endocervical cells being reported is not influenced by a past history of cervical biopsy, but is substantially improved if a combination of cytobrush and spatula is provided for sampling.
authors.affiliation: Victorian Cytology Service, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Medley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D014626:Vaginal Smears