[Cryosurgical treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia following cervical smears and curettage].

65 patients exhibiting colposcopically and cytologically atypical epithelium in the cervix were treated by cryosurgery with liquid nitrogen. 63 of whom were confirmed histologically after surface scraping and curettage of the cervix. The patient then were followed cytologically and colposcopically 8 and 12 weeks after cryosurgery. According to that the definitive histological diagnosis was performed after conization (48 patients) hysterectomy (12 patients) and surface scraping and curettage of the cervix (8 patients). Colposcopical, cytological and histological findings after surface scraping of the cervix showed a correlation rate in the 95% range. Treatment failure rate following cryosurgery showed an increased percentage with increased grade of CIN. A complete destruction of ectocervical pathologic tissue in CIN 1 and 2 is opposed to a persistent disease rate of 20 percent in patients with CIN 3. The failure rate was significantly higher in cases without fully visualization of squamocolumnar junction. Cytological follow-up predicted all cases with histologic diagnosis of persistent disease. Colposcopical evaluation was frequently unsatisfactory after cryosurgery. Cryosurgery of CIN should be reserved for the treatment of those patients in whom the criteria for patient selection are performed and the benefits of this method outweigh the possible drawbacks.