Abstract
Objective: To clarify the histological diagnosis of women who were initially cytodiagnosed as having class III or III a findings in the uterine cervix.
Study Design: Histological examinations were performed by colposcopy at our hospital in women who had been cytodiagnosed as having class III or III a findings of the uterine cervix between 2001 and 2003.
Results: Among the 289 women who were examined (45 initially diagnosed as class III and 244 initially diagnosed as class III a), the following histological assessments were made: 39 cases of mild dysplasia, 19 cases of moderate dysplasia, 33 cases of severe dysplasia, 40 cases of carcinoma in situ, and 14 cases of invasive carcinoma. However, neoplastic lesions were not histologically detected in 142 (49.1%) of the patients (53.3% were initially cytodiagnosed as having class III cervical cancer, and 48.4% were initially cytodiagnosed as having class III a cervical cancer).
Conclusion: Neoplastic lesions were not histologically confirmed in approximately 50% of the women who were initially cytodiagnosed as class III or II a during cervical cancer screening. This finding suggests that cytology for human papillomavirus (HPV) influenced the Japanese classification system, compared with the Bethesda classification system.
