Routine Pelvic Examination and Cytologic Method, 1958, Produced for American Cancer Society, Eastman pink fade
This short 1958 educational film from the American Cancer Society shows how to perform a routine pelvic examination and cytologic test for the detection of cancer of the uterus. The film opens with a woman sitting in an office of a physician. A nurse retrieves the patient from the office and takes her to an exam room. An illustration of the pelvis and cervix is used to show the development of uterine cancer. A chart shows the cure rates for the different stages of the cancer (03:30). A slide is placed under a microscope (04:27), showing the sample from the pap smear. The nurse stands at the side of the patient to comfort her while the physician performs a routine pelvic examination (04:45). He grabs a speculum then inserts the tool into the woman’s vagina. A close-up shot shows the patient’s cervix and vaginal tissue. The film shows the physician use an aspirating pipette to capture secretion from the woman. A rubber or latex model of a pelvis is used to show how the sample is collected from the cervix. A tongue blade spatula is used to scrape smear from the vagina. A cotton-tipped aspirator is then used to obtain a sample. The physician puts lubricant on his fingers and then performs a pelvic examination of the patient (07:58). There is another demonstration on the pelvis model to show how to palpate the abdomen with the free hand. The examining hands then palpate the ovaries and tube of the model, which is then followed by demonstrating a final bi-manual examination with a rectal-vaginal-abdominal palpation on the model (11:04). The film shows a close-up shot of a biopsy specimen being taken from a suspicious cervical lesion (11:58). The film concludes with a close-up shot of the cervix and the collection of a sample for the cytologic test procedure.
The Papanicolaou test, also known as the Pap test or the Pap smear, was developed in the 1940s by Georgios Papanikolaou. It involves exfoliating cells from the transformation zone of the cervix to enable examination of these cells microscopically for detection of cancerous or precancerous lesions.
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