SANTA MONICA, CALIF. — It may not be necessary to refer women for colposcopy after a single, mildly dyskaryotic cervical smear, according to a poster presentation by Mr. A.S. Ahmed at the biennial meeting of the International Gynecologic Cancer Society.
In a retrospective analysis of 375 patients who had a single smear positive for mild dyskaryosis and were followed for 4 years, Mr. Ahmed of King's College, London, and his colleagues found that 50% of the follow-up smears were negative in the first year, and of those 87% stayed negative over the full 4 years.
In all, 791 follow-up smears were performed and 477 (60%) were negative. After those negative smears, only 61 smears (13%) in 54 patients (14%) reverted back to low-grade abnormalities.
Of the 375 patients, 70 (19%) required an excisional biopsy.