Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Cytology in Prevention of Cancer of Cervix

1963; BMJ; Volume: 1; Issue: 5346 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bmj.1.5346.1637

0959-8138

Marie Grant,

Cervical Cancer and HPV Research

The value of cytology has been but grudgingly admitted in this country during the past ten years, and although recently its use, particularly in the gynaecological field, has extended, only a small minority of all gynaecological and post-natal patients have the advantage of cytology as part of their routine examination. I had the opportunity to join the cytological service started in Edinburgh by Dr. A. F. Anderson, at the request of Professor Kellar, in 1949, and the advantage of routine cytology in gynaecological practice soon became apparent (Anderson et al., 1951, 1953). In 1955 Professor Ian Donald, of Glasgow University, asked for a cytological service for his patients at the Western Infirmary, and this was started for a trial period, with the permission and co-operation of the medical officer of health, Dr. W. A. Horne, who offered laboratory facilities and technical help for the staining of the smears. The time available for cytology was limited and the service could not cover all the patients attending the unit, so it was arranged that those over 40 years of age should be screened routinely and as many of those under 40 as possible. Cervical scrape smears were taken as advocated by Ayre (1947), and these were fixed and stained by the Papanicolaou method (Papanicolaou and Traut, 1943).