[Pathologic Papanicolaou class IV smear without histologic correlation--what should be done?]

13 of 188 patients with a Papanicolaou smear Type IV of the cervix showed histologically only abnormal epithelium, CIN I or II, a result which does not explain the cytologic result. For several reasons a hysterectomy was performed in 5 cases. In only one of these patients a pathological finding, an endometrial carcinoma stage 0, was detected. In the other 8 cases a routine procedure under regular colposcopic and cytologic control had been performed. According to the results during a median follow-up over 52 months, such routine procedure is justified, if the patient wants children and if respectively a regular colposcopic/cytologic control or a control curettage after 3-6 months is undertaken.