Studies on the histological bases of unclean back grounds of vaginal smears in the cases of cervical carcinoma were performed, and following results were obtained.
1) Unclean back grounds of vaginal smears came from hemorrhage, inflammatory cell infiltration, pleomorphism of degenerated noncancerous squa mous epithelium and presence of ghost cells or cellular fragments.
2) Hemorrhage was observed at the surface of the carcinoma tissue in the most cases of invasive carcinoma (96%).
3) Inflammatory cell infiltration into squamous epithelium were observed in 35 cases of 50 invasive carcinomas (70%), 3 cases of 20 in situ carcinomas (15%), and 5 cases of 50 myomas (12%).
4) Frequency of parakeratosis was relatively high in carcinoma in situ (30%), and only 10% in invasive carcinoma.
5) Pleomorphism of squamous epithelium was observed in 19 cases of 50 invasive carcinomas (38%), and not in 20 in situ carcinomas and 50 myomas.
6) It was suggested that ghost cells or cellular fragments observed frequently in the vaginal smears of invasive carcinoma originated mainly from dege nerated carcinoma cells themselves and partially from degenerated squamous epithelium with acido philic cytoplasm.