Contributors:

Amber Banfield
Cytology Student
The University Health Center of Pittsburgh
Anisa I. Kanbour School of Cytotechnology
Pittsburgh, PA

Clinical history:

The patient involved in this study is a 54 year-old female whose LMP was recorded as four years prior. She, like many other women with this condition, presented with atypical vaginal bleeding. A pap smear was obtained and later a cervical biopsy performed, upon receipt of atypical cytologic findings. The clinical history provided made no mention of previous Pap smear interpretations. The patient’s Pap test was collected in the conventional smear method and stained using the classical Papanicolaou procedure.

Figure 1 (Pap Stain) 

Cytologic findings:

      The patient’s Pap smear exhibited a uniform cell population and cells with scant cytoplasm, inconspicuous nucleoli, crush artifact, nuclear molding, mitoses, hyperchromatic nuclei and high N/C ratios in a necrotic background. (Figure 1)

Cytologic diagnosis: Click here!