The effect of condom use on squamous cell cervical intraepithelial neoplasia

Between January 1, 1968, and July 1, 1980, 377 of a total 412 patients with biopsy-proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) were seen in the private office of the authors and followed for more than 6 months after biopsy and the start of treatment. Thirty-five patients were lost to follow-up. Ninety-one were treated primarily by hysterectomy. The 286 patients in whom childbearing function was to be preserved were instructed, as soon as the diagnosis of CIN was confirmed, to use a mechanical barrier (the condom) throughout intercourse. In addition to the use of the condom, 40 of the 286 underwent surgical conization and 107 underwent cryosurgery. All of these 147 patients eventually showed cytologic and colposcopic regression of the disease. One hundred and thirty-nine patients were treated with the condom alone. One hundred and thirty-six of the 139 showed complete regression of the disease. Eighteen (6.2%) of the 286 patients had late recurrences of the disease; 12 of these experienced regression again with the resumption of the use of the condom. No patients showed progression of the disease while using the condom. All grades of CIN proved to be reversible. It is recommended that a mechanical barrier at intercourse be added to any program for conservative treatment of CIN.