Exfoliative cytology of urinary sediments.A review of 2,829 cases

I shall11 published a short preliminary report on the subject of urinary cytology, based on a study of 83 cases: in 1947 Papanicolaou~ followed this with an article dealing with "240 recent cases."In 1948 Schmidlapp and Mar-shall14 appraised the value of exfoliative cytology as a diagnostic procedure in urology from the clinical standpoint, reviewing 333 cases.More than ten years have elapsed since the publication of the first of these papers, and during the 10 years, there has been an accumulation of more than 3,000 reports in the Papanicolaou Cytology Laboratory.It is our purpose to ascertain how the method has succeeded or where it has failed as a reliable means for detecting cancer cells in urine.Accordingly, we have anlyzed the results obtained in 2,829 cases reported upon between the years 1945 and 1954; some of the very recent cases were omitted, since a deadline must be drawn at some point when a continuously expanding .series is undergoing analysis.While there is a very rich literature concerning exfoliative cytology as a diagnostic procedure in connection with secretions of the female genital tract, the respiratory tract, and serous eff usates and exudates, comparatively little has appeared on its value in connection with urinary sediments.McDonald8 believed that the study of such specimens was of questionable value in the detection of carcinoma of the bladder.He found that of 78 cases in which lesions of the bladder were suspected, From the Pa anicolaou Cytology Laborato Department of PaJology.the New York Hospital-&nell Medical Center, New York, N.Y.This investigation was sup orted by a research grant (C-2401-Path.)from the kational Cancer Institute, of the National Institute8 of Health, Public Health Service.All photomicrographs were made by Miss Suzanne B. Voorhies of the laboratory staff.Renal pathological specimens utilized in renal studies were kindly loaned by the New York Hospital Department of SurgicaI Pathology.EA-65 stain is prepared and marketed by Ortho Pharmaceutical Co oration.Raritan, N.