Abstract
Numerical counts of epithelial cells in cervical samples collected with a wooden spatula and smeared manually onto a glass slide were determined in seven women using a Thin-Prep processor.The counts varied greatly from case to case.On average, the numbers of cells collected and smeared were 780, 215 and 85, 543, respectively, while as many as 694, 672 cells (89.0%) were lost when conventional Pap smears were made.In four out of seven cases, the smear showed a pattern of distribution of cellular areas significantly different from that of the original collection.If the subsample placed on a microscopical slide is not representative of the original cell population, there may be a significant chance of missing disease with conventional Pap smears.
