Intrapartum outcome of term pregnancy after cervical cryotherapy.

Fifty-nine patients who underwent cryotherapy on the uterine cervix at University Hospital of Jacksonville between September 1974 and September 1980 subsequently gave birth at that institution. Of these patients, three had repeat cesarean sections and three had D&Cs in the interval between cryotherapy and pregnancy. The remaining 53 patients were matched with 53 controls for age, parity, fetal weight and absence of cervical surgery. Data were gathered and compared with respect to the cesarean section rate, precipitous dilation, cervical lacerations, postpartum hemorrhage, oxytocin augmentation of labor, Apgar scores, use of forceps and other obstetric complications. There were no significant differences in any of these parameters between the two groups. However, 19 cases had precipitous labor as opposed to 11 controls (0.1 greater than p greater than 0.05). Cryotherapy for cervical dysplasia does not appear to have any deleterious effects on the outcome of term labor.