Cytodiagnosis of Precancerous States and Early Human Cancer

Abstract

Cytologic techniques have been instrumental in the detection and diagnosis of precancerous lesions and early stages of human cancer and have contributed in a major way to the current knowledge of these lesions (summary in Koss 1992). The success in these endeavors is best illustrated by cervix cancer detection programs that contributed to a statistically significant drop in the rate of invasive cancer of the cervix in societies where such programs were appropriately executed (summary in Koss 1989). Besides the uterine cervix, the targets of these techniques have included other organs of the female genital tract such as the endometrium (Koss et al. 1984), several organs of the gastrointestinal tract, mainly the esophagus (Shu 1985) and stomach (Takeda 1984), organs of the lower urinary tract, mainly the urinary bladder (Koss et al. 1985), and the larynx and the lung (Fontana 1986). Other incidental applications of these techniques to the diagnosis of precancerous lesions have also been described.