Pure cutting current for loop excision of squamous intraepithelial lesions.

Clear margins are critical to the identification of complete excision of premalignant lesions on the cervix. Large loop excision of the transformation zone aids the pathologic evaluation of the excised specimen while it causes minimal thermal damage. Prior studies of loop excision were performed with a cutting current blended with a coagulating waveform to aid hemostasis. Blended current has higher voltage, which may cause tissue to stick to the electrode and produce thermal damage to the cervix. In this series, pure cutting current was used to excise the cervical transformation zone in 20 patients. The depth of thermal damage was studied in 6 patients; the average endocervical zone of damage was 0.47 mm and that of the exocervical zone, 0.43 mm. The base of the cervix could be examined with the colposcope for the presence of glands. None of our procedures was complicated by intraoperative or delayed bleeding. The preoperative injection of a vasoconstrictor into the cervical stroma is thought to aid the surgery by its hemostatic properties.