Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia III treatments by carbon dioxide laser

162 women underwent one or more carbon dioxide laser conservative treatments for lesions of severe dysplasia and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN III) between 1982 and 1987. Therapy involved destruction of lesions by vaporisation in 45% of cases and excisional conisation in 55% (32% performed with a hand-held apparatus and 23% colposcopically guided). Rates of cure were, respectively, 93, 96.1 and 94.4%, with an overall rate of 2.5% for dropouts. Recurrences (rates, respectively, of 8.5, 5.8 and 5.5%) were associated with human papilloma virus in 92% of cases. The increasing numbers of very young women affected, as well as the spread of intraepithelial and condylomatous neoplastic lesions along the endocervical canal, are major reasons for the use of colposcopically guided carbon dioxide laser treatment.