A study of the quantitative characteristics of exfoliated cells from the female genital tract.<i>II. Suitability of quantitative cytological measurements for automatic prescreening</i>

Abstract

HE QUANTITATIVE measurement of cell T properties, described in the first paper of this series,4 showed that significant differences are demonstrable between the smears of normal individuals and those of patients with cervical cancer. T h e smears positive for cancer have a higher proportion of cells with low cell to nucleus (C/N) diameter ratio and cells with large, dense nuclei. It appears, therefore, that these properties would be suitable for use in prescreening studies. T h e purpose of this paper is to determine the prescreening possibilities of using only the few quantitative characteristics at hand to differentiate between negative and positive smears.