Cytohormonal and cancer screening procedure for endometrial carcinoma.

The results of cancer-screening (by Papanicolaou) and of cytohormonal examinations were evaluated in 208 patients with endometrial adenocarcinoma. The occurrence rate of atypical cells in vaginal smears was 44.2%. It was higher in the more advanced cases and after the menopause, and an inverse relationship was found with the degree of maturation of the vaginal epithelium. -It was concluded that the combination of hormonal and cancer-screening cytodiagnostic procedures, using vaginal smears alone, can hardly facilitate the early diagnosis of endometrial carcinomas. Higher efficiency could only be expected from direct endometrial smears and by frequent screening of the population at highest risk.