The correlation between dysmenorrhea and the pain experienced during laser ablation of a cervical lesion

Twenty women undergoing colposcopically directed laser evaporation of a cervical intraepithelial neoplastic (CIN) lesion were recruited. Using a linear analog scale they scored the pain associated with a normal period when not using contraception. Under standardized conditions and without any analgesia or local anesthesia their transformation zone was ablated to a depth of approximately 6 mm by an independent operator. Pain was assessed 10 min after the procedure by the same technique as that used for the measurement of dysmenorrhea. There is a direct correlation (r = 0.7) between the discomfort of dysmenorrhea and discomfort at colposcopy. This allows the operating colposcopist to predict which patients are most likely to experience discomfort during laser evaporation of a cervical lesion.