Diagnostic conization of the uterine cervix. II. Comparison of histological diagnoses with cytological and colposcopic tentative diagnoses

This report presents colposcopic and cytologic misinterpretations in cases with a cervical intraepithelial neoplasia or early invasive carcinoma and benign cervical lesions and the accuracy of these two methods of screening for cervical cancer. The accuracy of the cytology and of the colposcopic impression in predicting the degree of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and early invasive carcinoma was over 93 per cent. In patients showing benign cervical lesions the cytology is more accurate in predicting the correct histologic change with 94,2 per cent than the colposcopic impression with 63,1 per cent. The suspicious smears (Papanicolaou III) are discussed.