Anatomic basis of endometrial cytology.
A comparative cytologic and histologic study on 700 hysterectomy specimens showed that the cytologic evaluation of exfoliated cells from the uterine cavity did not correspond to the findings of the histologic examination of the endometrium in about 33% of sexually mature and 30% of postmenopausal women. The findings of both methods did not always coincide because the epithelial cells in the imprints or smears and the epithelial cells lining the glands in the histologic specimens belonged to structures that anatomically have little in common, one being superficial epithelium of the endometrium and the other being the glandular epithelium in the deep layers of the mucosa. This explains the false-negative results in the cytologic examination of the endometrium, especially in cases of glandular hyperplasia and early carcinoma, in which the foci of proliferation are initially covered by small and inactive surface epithelial cells and are inaccessible to cytologic investigation. False-positive cytologic results may occur in cases of irritated surface epithelium in chronic endometritis; this may also happen in women using an intrauterine device, during estrogen therapy, in regenerating mucosa after desquamation or curettage, in early pregnancy and after spontaneous abortion.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004716:Endometritis / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D004717:Endometrium / Q000166:cytology / Q000473:pathology*; D004847:Epithelial Cells; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D007044:Hysterectomy; D007434:Intrauterine Devices / Q000009:adverse effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D014599:Uterus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*