title: Can cervicography replace the ectocervical papanicolaou smear?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to combine the relative strengths of two screening tests - the Papanicolaou smear and cervicography - and to determine whether their combination is more efficient at evaluating the cervix than is the traditional method of cytological assessment alone.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred eighty-five non-pregnant patients qualified for the study. Age range was 17 to 50 years, with an average age of 28.2 years. Papanicolaou smears were followed by cervicography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of all patients in whom cervical abnormalities were diagnosed via the combination of cervicography and cytology, 90 patients had cervical abnormalities. Ten patients would have been missed by this combined approach, four of the ten underwent colposcopy, and only one revealed findings significant enough for biopsy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that a dual procedure appears to be superior to either method individually for diagnostic capability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, St. John's Mercy Medical Center, St. Louis, MO.
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Nilson
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Blythe