Expectant management versus immediate treatment for low‐grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia Journal Articles uri icon

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abstract

  • AbstractBACKGROUND:The optimal management strategy for women with low‐grade biopsy‐proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is not clear. Our objective was to compare the effectiveness of regular colposcopic follow‐up and treatment of progressive disease only versus immediate treatment.METHODS:Data were accrued between November 2000 and March 2006 for a noninferiority randomized clinical trial of 415 women with biopsy‐proven grade 1 CIN from 8 Canadian and 2 Brazilian colposcopy clinics. Subjects were randomly assigned to either undergo immediate treatment with a loop electrical excision procedure (LEEP) or receive regular colposcopic follow‐up for 18 months. The primary outcome was progression of disease to CIN 2 to 3 was based on histology obtained during 18 months of follow‐up. Treatments were compared using differences of proportion with a 9% noninferiority margin. Analysis was conducted on the basis of intention‐to‐treat.RESULTS:An initial LEEP was performed on 179 women. Disease progression was found in 32. Easily controlled vaginal bleeding occurred in 16 (8.9%). During follow‐up, disease progression was identified in 3 (1.7%) women in the immediate treatment arm and 9 (4.4%) in the colposcopic follow‐up arm—a tolerable difference of 2.7% with 1‐sided 95% confidence interval (CI) upper limit of 6.0%. Compliance with all 3 follow‐up visits was 61% overall, but significantly worse in women ≤30 years of age (P < .05).CONCLUSIONS:The risk of progression to CIN grade 2 or 3 or cancer over 18 months was similar in the 2 treatment groups. In Canada and Brazil, follow‐up for 18 months is a reasonable management strategy for women with persistent low‐grade cytology who are found to have grade 1 CIN on referral for colposcopy and cervical biopsy. Cancer 2011. © 2010 American Cancer Society.

publication date

  • April 2011

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