Novak P M, Kumar N B, Naylor B
Acta Cytol. 1984 Jan-Feb;28(1):5-8.
A retrospective examination of 172,119 cervical and vaginal smears was undertaken to study the prevalence, morphology, significance and origin of Curschmann's spirals in such specimens. Spirals morphologically identical to those seen in sputum were found in 101 specimens from 100 patients, for a prevalence of 1 in 1,704 smears. Spirals were found only in patients who had not had their cervices removed. The presence of the spirals could not be correlated with any particular gynecologic or nongynecologic abnormality. Most of the patients had no gynecologic abnormality. The literature contains suggestions that Curschmann's spirals in cervicovaginal smears are a manifestation of orogenital sexual contact or are formed in endocervical mucus, particularly in cigarette smokers. To investigate whether such spirals have an extraneous origin, we examined the smears for dust-containing histiocytes, vegetable cells, skeletal muscle fibers and other extraneous material, none of which was found. We found no correlation between the presence of spirals and cigarette smoking. Moreover, histologic sections of the uterine cervices from some of the patients who had spirals in their smears showed evidence of spiral formation in endocervical mucus. We conclude that Curschmann's spirals in cervicovaginal smears are an uncommon finding with no clinical significance, that they are formed from endocervical mucus and that their presence has nothing to do with orogenital sexual contact or cigarette smoking.
对172,119份宫颈和阴道涂片进行了回顾性检查，以研究此类标本中库施曼螺旋体的患病率、形态、意义及来源。在来自100名患者的101份标本中发现了形态与痰液中所见螺旋体相同的螺旋体，涂片患病率为1/1704。仅在未切除子宫颈的患者中发现螺旋体。螺旋体的存在与任何特定的妇科或非妇科异常均无关联。大多数患者无妇科异常。文献中有人提出，宫颈阴道涂片中的库施曼螺旋体是口交性接触的一种表现，或是在宫颈内膜黏液中形成的，尤其是在吸烟者中。为了研究此类螺旋体是否有外来来源，我们检查了涂片是否含有含尘组织细胞、植物细胞、骨骼肌纤维及其他外来物质，但均未发现。我们发现螺旋体的存在与吸烟之间无关联。此外，一些涂片中有螺旋体的患者的子宫颈组织切片显示宫颈内膜黏液中有螺旋体形成的证据。我们得出结论，宫颈阴道涂片中的库施曼螺旋体是一种罕见的发现，无临床意义，它们由宫颈内膜黏液形成，其存在与口交性接触或吸烟无关。
