Diagnostic and therapeutic efficacy of cervical conization.

Cervical conization was perfromed on 756 patients at the University of Kentucky Medical Center from July 1, 1964, to January 1, 1973. Sixty-six patients were pregnant at the time of conization. Eighty-six per cent of patients with cytologic findings of carcinoma in situ had histologic verification of carcinoma in situ or severe dysplasia, and there was absolute correlation between cytology and histology in 75 per cent of patients will occult invasive cancer. Cervical biopsies without colposcopic direction predicted either severe dysplasia or carcinoma in situ in 77 per cent of cases but were accurate in only seven of 24 patients with occult invasive cancer. Carcinoma in situ was present in 30 per cent of hysterectomy specimens following conization but recurred in only seven per cent of patients followed without hysterectomy. Recurrent carcinoma in situ following hysterectomy was more common in patients with residual intraepithelial cancer in the uterus but was independent of the size of the vaginal cuff removed. Major postconization complications requiring hospitalization occurred in 3.4 per cent of nonpregnant patients and in 7.5 per cent of pregnant patients.