The primary-care physician and cancer detection: the role of the Pap smear.

This is a retrospective 5 year study of cancer detection in the suburban office of a primary-care physician. There were 127 diagnoses of malignancy confirmed in 5,011 patients, 62 in the reproductive system and 62 in other organ systems. More than 9,000 Pap smears resulted in the final diagnosis of carcinoma of the cervix in only seven patients. 374 curettages yielded 37 cases of endometrial carcinoma. All of these patients had Class I Pap smears preoperatively.