Duration of colposcopic changes associated with trichomonas vaginitis

The possibility that an abnormal Papanicolaou smear of the uterine cervix may be associated with vaginitis due to trichomonas vaginalis has been known for some time. Since colposcopy is being used with increased frequency to evaluate patients with cytologic abnormalities noted on the cervical smear and the colposcopic changes produced by trichomonal vaginitis are quite typical, a study was designed to evaluate the duration of these changes after effective eradication of the parasite. Among 12 patients in whom the infection was successfully treated, none showed evidence of colposcopically detected abnormalities due to the trichomonal vaginitis at 2 weeks and again at 4 weeks after initiation of therapy.