Maturation index values and estradiol blood levels in uterine cervical cancer.

Maturation index (M.I.) values and blood estradiol-17-beta levels were estimated in a series of menopausal uterine cervical cancer patients and non cancer healthy menopausal women. Blood estradiol-17-beta levels did not exhibit differences in between the studied groups of cases. Three groups of uterine cervix cancer patients (before treatment, 6 weeks after radiation and 2 and more years after treatment) are all characterized by different M.I. values representing entirely different type of menopausal cytology. Atrophic type before treatment; "mixed" type 6 weeks after radiation and proliferative-estrogen type in 2 and more years after treatment. Very high karyopyknotic index values (KPI) in the group before treatment and very low values in the late after treatment group seem to support some scepticism in regard to strict specificity of M.I. and KPI as for expressing estrogen activity only.