Eroded cervix

During a six-year period 1,808 women aged 20 to 59 underwent gynaecological examination at a well-woman clinic. Cervical erosions were found in 269. Nine patients had cervical carcinoma, confirmed by biopsy; of these eight had eroded cervices. The remaining patients with non-malignant erosions were examined at six-monthly intervals. Of these, roughly 39% showed spontaneous healing within a year, 31% responded to medical treatment, 17% healed only after surgical treatment, 9% remained unhealed when reviewed six months after the last active treatment, and 4% relapsed after originally healing well.The difficulties of getting patients to return for cytological examination increase with the interval between the original examination and recall. It is suggested that patients should be re-examined initially at an interval not exceeding six months, so that false negative results are minimal.