The colposcopy clinic in a residency training program. Five years' experience with colposcopically directed biopsies...

Five hundred fifty-four patients with abnormal cytologic smears were screened in a special clinic by gynecology residents under faculty supervision using colposcopy and biopsies. Two hundred fifty patients who were evaluated by colposcopy subsequently had conization or hysterectomy. Colposcopically directed biopsies were accurate (comparable to the surgical specimen) in 92%. Three patients had invasive cancer high in the endocervical canal that was found by conization after endocervical curettage and colposcopy had indicated less-severe disease. Persistent or recurrent dysplasia was found in approximately 5% after conization and in none after hysterectomy. Because 23% of patients were lost to follow-up after treatment and an additional 19% had inadequate follow-up, management of CIN III with local destruction (cryocautery, electrocautery, laser) does not seem advisable.