[Value of colposcopy in diagnosing recurrent gynecologic malignancies]

From 1983 to 1988, colposcopic follow-up examination was done in 82 treated gynecologic tumor patients (68 cervical cancer, 7 vulval cancer and 7 other cancers) comprising 10% of all examined by colposcopy during the same period. Twenty-one cases were found to have recurrence or metastasis in the cervix, vagina or vulva proven by pathology. Ten of these 21 cases were initially diagnosed by colposcopy. The conformation rate between colposcopic examination and pathology was 85.7%. An accuracy of 86.7% was achieved by combination of cytology and colposcopy for recurrent tumors. The results suggest that tumor recurrence can be detected earlier by colposcopy than by clinical examination. Colposcopy combined with cytology as follow-up examination can improve the clinical diagnosis and treatment of treated patients.