Exfoliative cytology in the diagnosis of laryngeal malignancy.

In searching for a screening procedure in the diagnosis of laryngeal malignancy the authors have evaluated a cytological examination, adapted for indirect laryngoscopy, and present the results of 149 consecutive smears from the larynx. Forty-four per cent of the smears were false negative, and it is concluded that exfoliative cytology with this method has no place as a screening procedure in the diagnosis of laryngeal malignancy. The method is inferior to the evaluation of the clinical picture in indirect laryngoscopy, and the selection for direct laryngoscopy and biopsy for histological evaluation should be based upon the clinical evaluation.