Women with positive cervical smears but without surgical intervention. A follow-up study.

By a collaborative effort among British cytopathologists, 101 women were identified who had had unsuspected "positive" cervical smears but who, after at least 2 years, had still escaped biopsy through refusal, default, or failure to trace. Of these, 31 still could not be traced; 10 were traced but could not be further examined (8 because they refused); 7 had clinically diagnosed carcinoma of the cervix; and the remaining 53 had further smears and/or biopsies after a mean interval of 5.2 years. In 19 of the 53 the smear had become negative or biopsy showed no lesion. Regression was confined to women aged under 40 at the time of the initial positive smear. In 20 cases biopsy showed dysplasia or carcinoma-in-situ, in 3 microinvasive carcinoma, and in 3 occult invasive carcinoma. Of the 7 women who presented clinically with carcinoma of the cervix, this caused death in 5.