Trends in colposcopy.

Concurrent with the decreasing incidence of invasive squamous cell cancer of the cervix, there has been an increase in the incidence of cervical carcinoma in situ (CIS). The incidence of CIS has reached a plateau, and the author feels that CIS will now decline as earlier stages of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) are being detected and eradicated. Much of the treatment of this earlier CIN can be confined to an office setting with the aid of a colposcope.