[Significance of variations in the size of Trichomonas vaginalis in patients with dysplasia, intrapithelial and invasive planocellular carcinoma of the uterine cervix].

The study of the size of Trichomonas vaginalis in 100 patients with dysplasia and intraepithelial or invasive planocellular carcinoma of the uterine cervix and in 100 controls with trichomoniasis alone has shown that the parasites are of a significantly smaller diameter in carcinoma in situ (9.57 +/- 0.35 mu) and invasive carcinoma (10.44 +/- 0.66 mu) than in dysplasia (13.71 +/- 0.35 mu). The analysis of the variance has shown that this difference is statistically significant. In the control group with trichomoniasis alone, the diameter of Trichomonas vaginalis was twice as large (21.46 +/- 0.66 mu) as that in carcinoma and still larger than that in dysplasia. This indicates that small forms of Trichomonas vaginalis are more pathogenic than large ones and might be one of the causative agents of the atypical transformation of the squamous epithelium of the uterine cervix.