The Cytologic Smear in Gynecologic Geriatric Practice

Geriatric Aspects of Primary Endometrial Cancer

“…Scheffey and Warren discussed the incidence of false negative findings in vaginal smears, which may run as high as 20 to 30 per cent in the diagnosis of corpus cancer. They felt that for the physician treating older women, the Papanicolaou-Traut cytologic method of diagnosis is an important means of further reducing the number of delayed diagnoses and thereby the number of deaths from uterine cancer (20). However, this will depend first of all upon the reliability of the cytologic diagnosis, and secondly upon its interpretation in relation to clinical symptoms and .physical findings.…”

Vaginitis in the Menopausal and Postmenopausal Woman

“…The utilization of the Papanicolaou smear in older women has been reviewed in another paper from this institution (19). At least three smears should be obtained on each patient: 1) vaginal (aspirated from the posterior fornix), 2) cervical (scraped fron the portio with a wooden spatula), and 3) endocervical and endometrial (aspirated with the use of a laryngeal‐type metal cannula from the endocervix).…”