Importance of Nuclear Changes in Pre-Invasive Lesions of the Uterine Cervix

Special attention was given to the appearance of nucleoli in the cytological samples of 21 cases of severe dysplasia, 25 cases of carcinoma in situ and 23 cases of microinvasive carcinoma. Studies showed that the lowest occurrence of nucleoli was in carcinoma in situ, and that when present they tended to be single rather than multiple. Further, the nucleoli of carcinoma in situ were usually larger than those of severe dysplasia, but smaller than those of microinvasive carcinoma. These findings suggest that it would be cytologically possible during the follow-up, by observing the nuclear appearance, to determine whether severe dysplasia would progress to carcinoma in situ and carcinoma in situ would progress to microinvasive carcinoma, or whether there would be regression.