Abstract
ABSTRACT
Between 1979 and 1980, 133 women with atypia on cervical cytology smear obtained at the Gynecology Clinic, University Hospital of Jacksonville (UHJ), Florida, were lost to follow-up. Cytology records were reviewed from 1981 to the present to identify those women who subsequently returned to the system. The returning women were assigned to one of two groups depending on the cytologic description of their original smear. Group I consisted of women who should have had colposcopic evaluation based on the UHJ protocols operant in 1979 and 1980. Group II included those women who would not have been colposcoped initially but who, under ideal circumstances, would have been followed with repeat cytologic evaluation. Mean elapsed time for return to the system was 28.6 months in group I and 31.2 months in group II. Eighty-four percent of the women in group I had persistent abnormal cytologic findings on return evaluation, 53% suggesting CIN. In group II, 39% had persistent abnormal cytologic findings, 18% consistent with CIN. These findings suggest a persistence and possible progression of abnormality in certain forms of atypia that may require more aggressive management in high-risk women.
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