ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2004 December;163(6):261-4

Copyright © 2004 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

The speculoscopy in the diagnosis of cervical dysplasias

Papadia L. S.

U.U.O.O. Ginecologia-Ostetricia, Ospedale Civile «San Paolo», Civitavecchia (Roma)

Aim. Some authors suggest the speculoscopy for the detection of cervical cancer precursor lesions. We evaluated the utility and effectiveness of this new test.
Methods. From october 1999 to december 2000 out of women of our colposcopy department we selected 100 patients with negative history for positive pap smear and/or different surgical treatments of the uterine cervix.
Results. The pap smear was positive in 23% of all patients, the speculoscopy in 39%, and both in 21%. These percentages increase if we analyze the 50 women younger with high risk for human papilloma virus and dysplasias. The great value of the alone speculoscopy referred a higher number of patients to colposcopic examination and biopsy specimen. Of 18 women cytologically negatives the speculoscopy showed 4 cases (22.2%) positives by colposcopy and histology. The HGSIL were diagnosed by both cytology and speculoscopy.
Conclusions. The speculoscopy had a few advantages in diagnosis of cervical cancer precursor lesions but referred a lot of women to colposcopic examination and biopsy. The speculoscopy can be useful in some situations.