Histologic processing of microbiopsies from cervical smears is diagnostically useful in selected cases.

We analyzed the value in cervical cytology of a recently developed technique by which it is possible to remove thick tissue specimens, called microbiopsies, from cervical smears and to process them for histologic examination. In 12 (48%) of 25 cervical smears in which microbiopsies were found, the histologic sections from them confirmed the cytologic diagnosis. Most cases involved classification of lesions diagnosed as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. In 13 (52%) of 25 smears, processing the microbiopsy allowed considerable modification of the cytologic diagnosis. In six of these cases, microbiopsies consisted of groups of columnar cells that were incorrectly classified as atypical on the basis of cytologic criteria. After histologic processing, the microbiopsies revealed nonatypical columnar cells in four cases and only mildly atypical columnar cells in two cases. In 3 of 13 smears, there were insufficient dispersed atypical cells for a conclusive diagnosis. Processing the microbiopsies in these cases allowed classification into one of the cervical intraepithelial neoplasia categories.