Possible use of phosphohexose isomerase as a preliminary to exfoliative cytology in screening for cervical carcinoma.

The activities of phosphohexose isomerase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase have been studied in the vaginal fluid of women from the gynaecological departments. Women from these departments gave a very high false positive rate, though no cases of carcinoma in situ were not detected by estimating phosphohexose isomerase levels. It gave considerably better results in malignancy than 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase. It is suggested that the use of phosphohexose isomerase might be of value in screening well women during a mass cytology programme.