SQUAMOUS EPITHELIAL CELLS OF VAGINAL TYPE IN THE URINARY SEDIMENT AND URETHRAL SMEAR OF WOMEN A Survey

Abstract

UROLOCICAL and other treatises indicate that no conclusions can be drawn from the character of the epithelial cells of the urinary sediment as to the origin of these cells, the urinary passages being lined with the same type of epithelium from the calices to the urethra, namely, transitional epithelium. The cytology of the urinary sediment has recently acquired added interest, since Papanicolaou and co-workers (1945, 1946) have stressed the diagnostic importance of tumour cells in the sediment of cases with tumours in the urinary system. The present study is designed to throw further light on the extremely frequent occurrence of squamous epithelial cells of vaginal type in the urinary sediment and urethral smear of adult women, these cells originating from metaplastic areas in the lower urinary passages.At cystoscopy, as is known, the trigonum vesica: in the female often presents an appearance different from that of the remaining part of the bladder. The appearance of the most anterior part of the trigone has been characterised as " moist cotton wool " (Stoeckel, 1936), and this phenomenon has been attributed to edema (Knorr, 1900 ; et aI.). When this " white zone " is inspected with a convex cystoscope,