Effects of dilute acetic acid on cancer cytology. I. Effects on normal tissue.

The simultaneous use of exfoliative cytology and colposcopy is occasionally indicated in the detection of cervical cancer. When there is a fragile epithelium in the perimenopausal or postmenopausal woman, the taking of a cytology preparation may cause sufficient vascular injury so that subsequent colposcopy is not possible. A series of patients was subjected to primary colposcopy followed by cytologic testing in order to evaluate the effect of dilute acetic acid on the Papanicolaou preparation. The minimal alterations caused by dilute acetic acid are easily recognized and do not impair the validity of the cytologic technique for cancer detection.