Cryosurgery for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia during the reproductive years.

Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) is so rampant that simpler, effective, and less costly methods of therapy are being evaluated to replace the aggressive surgical therapeutic measures of the past. Cryosurgery is one alternative method. A review is presented of 152 patients in the childbearing age group with biopsy confirmation of CIN II (moderate dysplasia) and CIN III (severe dysplasia and carcinoma in situ). The persistence of CIN 3 months after therapy was deemed a treatment failure. Initial failure rates (24.2% for CIN II and 31.6% for CIN III) were high by this stringent definition. However, follow-up smears, further treatment, and a review of the literature definition of "treatment failure" lowered the failure rate to acceptable levels such that cryosurgery should be utilized in the therapy of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.