AgNOR counts are useful in cervical smears

✍ Scribed by M. R. Cardillo

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 358 KB
• Volume: 8
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 8755-1039
• DOI: 10.1002/dc.2840080304

✦ Synopsis

Because they present marked cellular changes, the cytological appearances of epithelial repair may be confused with those of cancer. To see whether the Ag-NOR staining technique for nucleolar organizer regions would be useful to distinguish benign prolgerative reactions (squamous metaplasia and repair) from cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN I, C I N II, and C I N III), we studied a series of cervical smears. The smears, previously stained with the Papanicolaou technique, were destained and restained with Ag-NOR silver. SigniJ5cantly different (P < 0.0s) Ag-NOR counts were found in squamous metaplasia, epithelial repair, and various degrees of CIN. The Ag-NOR technique appears useful in the diagnosis of cervical cytology and particularly in cases with marked cellular change, which could be confused with neoplasia.