T.P.T. staining of vaginal smears for diagnosis of carcinoma of the uterus

Papanicolaou's smear test is a method based upon the morphological study of the cancer cells exfoliated from the epithelium, whereas T.P.T. is a method for examining the intracellular metabolism, the glycolysis, by a supravital staining of the cancer cells. The latter, therefore, can be called as a cytochemical diagnosis. Since, by the T.P.T. method, even a beginner can obtain the result of approximately 80% in correct and the skilled ones as high as 95%, the clinical diagnosis can be made all the more accurate by using Papanicolaou's test in combination with T.P.T. method. As for the entity of these granular cells, there remains a room for discussion, but Misonou feels that Cell Type A arises from necrobiosis of the carcinomatous tissues while Type B would be a certain wandering cell. This reaction, however, should not be employed to the cases in the puerperium, because the similar cells are exfoliated from the puerperal uterus. Thus, I can say that the T.P.T. is not a specific reaction to cancer. From this study, I wuld recommend T.P.T. as a method that is quite simple and is servicable for saving a great deal of effort and time on the part of clinicians, and I would like to encourage you to use it as one of tools for the diagnosis of carcinoma of the uterus, especially for an early diagnosis.