Utility of MIB-1 in evaluating cauterized cervical cone biopsy margins

Interpretation of cervical cone biopsy margins removed by loop electrosurgical excision procedure is often problematic as a result of cautery artifacts. In this study, MIB-1 expression in cauterized tissues was almost identical to that in the adjacent noncauterized epithelium (correlation coefficients 0.97-0.98). Cauterized dysplastic/condylomatous epithelium showed significantly greater expression of MIB-1 than cauterized normal epithelium (p < or = 0.004) at all levels of the epithelium. Cut-off points for distinguishing dysplastic/condylomatous epithelium from normal epithelium were >15%, 30%, 5%, and 1% of cells in the basal, basal one-third, middle one-third, and surface one-third of epithelium, respectively.