Cervical cytologic abnormalities of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 treated with cryotherapy and expectant management during the first year follow-up period.

AIM To determine the frequency of cervical cytologic abnormalities in patients who were diagnosed as having CIN 1 and had undergone either cryotherapy or expectant management. METHODS A retrospective medical record review of 87 patients with colposcopic cervical biopsy-proven CIN 1, was undertaken including age, parity, menstruation status, cervical cytology reports, colposcopic findings, and cervical cytologic follow-up reports. There were 38 patients (43.7%) treated with cryotherapy and the remainder underwent expectant management. RESULTS Mean (SD) age of patients treated with cryotherapy was less than that of the patients who had expectant management (36.2 (9.4) vs 41.1 (9.4) years, respectively, p= 0.02). There were no differences in the frequencies of cervical cytologic abnormalities between the groups at 6- and 12-month-follow-up visits (cryotherapy group vs expectant group: 18.4% vs 18.4% at 6-months and 19.2% vs 16.1% at 12 months). CONCLUSION Cryotherapy and expectant management with cytologic surveillance had comparable frequencies of cytologic abnormalities during a 12-month follow-up period. Expectant management requires adherence to follow up and high quality cytology and colposcopy testing. Therefore, it should be reserved for these settings. Cryotherapy may be more reasonable in women who are likely to be lost to follow up and high quality cytology cannot be guaranteed.