The Clinical Value of the Negative Gastrointestinal Exfoliative Cytologic Examination in Cancer Suspects

Summary 1. A correlative study was made of the roentgen findings of 1714 gastrointestinal cancer suspects who had negative exfoliative cytologic examinations. All were proven to be clinically free of cancer. The negative cytologic examination, properly performed, significantly excluded the presence of cancer of the digestive tract, with the exception of the pancreas and biliary tract. 2. Notable benign conditions clinically simulating malignancy are esophagitis, gastric ulcer, antral gastritis, large gastric rugae, biliary and pancreatic diseases, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, and polyps of the colon. 3. Diagnostic cytologic inaccuracy for the various malignancies of the esophagus, stomach, and colon is approximately 10 per cent. The incidence of diagnostic error for benign conditions (including those considered premalignant) of the gastrointestinal tract is a fraction of 1 per cent. A negative cytologic report has definite clinical value.