Peritoneal cytology in patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix.

Peritoneal cytology was obtained in 125 patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix at the time of laparotomy. The incidence of positive peritoneal cytology was 11.2%. Positive peritoneal cytology was found four times more frequently in adenocarcinoma than in squamous cell carcinoma. The incidence of pelvic lymph node and paraaortic lymph node metastasis was higher in patients with positive peritoneal cytology than in patients with negative peritoneal cytology. The 2-year survival rate in patients with positive peritoneal cytology was 30.0% and it was 82.7% in patients with negative peritoneal cytology. Some patients (28.6%) with positive peritoneal cytology developed peritonitis carcinomatosa. It was concluded that it is very important to obtain peritoneal cytology routinely at the time of laparotomy in patients with carcinoma of the cervix.