We studied cervical cytology of 175 cases of histologically confirmed microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix in Cheil General Hospital from 1991 to 1993.
Excluding 32 cases of insufficient smear, 143 cases were reviewed in view of background, cellularity, smear pattern, nuclear chromatin and presence of nucleoli. The characteristic findings of microinvasive carcinoma were syncytia and/or individual tumor cells in the focally necrotic inflammatory background. Nuclear chromatin was clear or fine. Nucleoli were observed in 55%. The prediction rate of microinvasive carcinoma was 74%. There is no significant relationship between the cellular features and depth of invasion.
While cytologic characteristics of squamous dysplasia, carcinoma in situ, and invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix are well documented, relatively few studies have dealt with the cellular features of microinvasive carcinoma. In order to describe the cellular characteristics of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma, we retrospectively reviewed 45 cervovaginal smears(15 carcinoma in situ, 15 microinvasive cancer, 15 invasive cancer) which were confirmed by histologic examination of specimens obtained by hysterectomy at the Seoul National University Hospital during 5 years from 1995 to 1999. The cytologic features about tumor diathesis, inflammatory background, cell arrangement, anisonucleosis, nuclear membrane irregularity, nuclear chromatin pattern, and nucleoli were observed. The cytologic characteristics of microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix are syncytial pattern, mild tumor diathesis, the irregularity of nuclear membrane, irregularly distributed nuclear chromatin, and occurrence of micronucleoli. But, correlation between the depth of invasion and the cytologic feature had limited value.