Retrospective DNA analyses in cervical dysplasia as related to neoplastic progression or regression.

Intracellular DNA distribution was measured in cells from two groups of patients with moderate cervical dysplasia. One group consisted of patients who subsequently developed carcinoma in situ; the other consisted of patients whose lesions regressed to normality. Papanicolaou-stained slides were examined cytologically, and dysplastic cells were located. The slides were then destained and restained by means of the Feulgen DNA staining method, after which they were analyzed in a microspectrophotometer. The DNA distribution pattern of both groups was different from that of normal cells and exhibited the same characteristics observed earlier in premalignant cervical cellular atypias. There was no significant difference between the two groups. The results indicate that quantitative DNA determinations in cytomorphologically equivalent dysplastic cervical cells do not offer additional means of predicting the outcome of the lesions.