Avoiding conization for inadequate colposcopy. Suggestions for conservative therapy

To determine if conservative treatment can safely be offered to patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and inadequate colposcopic examination.

We reviewed the charts of 733 evaluable cone biopsies of the cervix performed for CIN at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston from January 1981 to September 1990.

Of 371 conizations that indicated inadequate colposcopy, there were 62 cases that fulfilled all the following conditions: cytologic smear suggesting CIN 2 or less, negative endocervical curettage (ECC) and cervical colposcopic biopsy showing CIN 2 or less. Pathologic examination of the cone biopsy specimen in these 62 cases revealed no dysplasia in 29.0%, CIN 1 in 16.%, CIN 2 in 37.0%, 3 in 17.7%, and no microinvasive or invasive lesions. Pathologic examination of the cone specimens of 309 patients with any high-risk factor--smear suggesting CIN 3 or invasive disease, colposcopic biopsy showing CIN 3 or positive ECC--revealed no dysplasia in 11.9%, CIN 1 in 11.3%, CIN 2 in 16.8%, CIN 3 in 49.8%, microinvasive carcinoma in 5.5% and frankly invasive carcinoma in 4.5%.

Conservative therapy may be offered to patients with inadequate colposcopy, CIN 1-2 on both biopsy and cytology, and negative ECC without over-looking either invasive or microinvasive carcinoma. With these criteria, 16.7% of patients with an inadequate colposcopy in our study could have avoided cone biopsy.