Epithelial repair and regeneration in the uterine cervix. I. An analysis of the cells.

Cell studies from 1,376 patients with abnormal cells derived from so-called tissue repair or regeneration comprised the basis for this study. Planimetric measurements were performed on camera lucida tractings of 1,573 atypical reparative cells (ARC). A total of 3,377 ARC were anlyzed with respect to cytoplasmic and nuclear features. On the basis of these analyses, ARC were subclassified into three types. In most instances, the morphologic type corresponded with the cervical epithelium of origin. The differential morphologic features of ARC were compared with the morphologic features of endocervidal adenocarcinoma and large cell nonkeratininzing squamous cell carcinoma. The biologic potential and clinical significance of ARC is to be the subject of a subsequent report.