Treatment of chronic cervicitis: the loop electrosurgical excision procedure.

The effectiveness and morbidity of excisional biopsy of cervical tissue using the electrosurgical excision procedure for the treatment of chronic cervicitis was investigated. In this study, loop diathermy was used in the treatment of one hundred patients with chronic cervicitis. Before the procedure, cervical smear and colposcopic examination were done. Then the loop diathermy was performed under local anesthesia. All the removed specimens were evaluated histopathologically. The mean operation time was 6.34 +/- 1.37 minutes. The complication of bleeding and secondary infection were 5% and 4%, respectively. All the patients had normal cervical smear (Papanicolaou class I or II). In the microscopic evaluation, thermal damage of the removed specimens were negligible. Six cases (6%) with CIN (CIN I = 4, CIN II = 2) were determined and the others (94%) were reported as chronic cervicitis in the histopathologic examinations of the removed specimens. After the operation, these cases with CIN were followed up for one year with cervical smears and colposcopic examinations. One of the six patients with CIN had recurrence and underwent cold-knife conization. This new technique is simple, quick and cheap. It can be used confidently to provide both diagnosis and treatment with minimal thermal tissue injury in cases with chronic cervicitis.