Cytologic detection of condylomas and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of the uterine cervix with histologic correlation

Abstract

Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been implicated as an important etiologic factor in cervical carcinoma. This study evaluates the efficacy of cytology as a screening tool in the detection of cervical lesions with koilocytotic features. Cervical smears and biopsy specimens from 76 women seen between January 1983 and October 1985 were reviewed. The histologic categories consisted of (1) koilocytotic lesions (flat condylomas) with minimal cellular atypia, (2) CIN I, II, III, with surface koilocytes showing cellular atypia (atypical koilocytosis), (3) CIN III with a contiguous lesion as defined in categories 1 and 2, (4) negative biopsies. Historically, five cases showed flat condylomas with minimal cellular atypia, 65 showed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) with atypical koilocytosis and two showed negative biopsies. Cytologically, in all cases of flat condyloma with minimal cellular atypia (5/5), CIN I with atypical koilocytosis (39/39), and CIN III with a contiguous condylomatous lesion (4/4) both koilocytes and, in the latter two categories, dysplastic cells were identified in the cervical smears. In 7/9 cases of CIN II and 9/17 cases of CIN III with atypical koilocytosis, smears showed both atypical koilocytes and dysplastic cells. In the remaining ten cases, however, there was cytologic underestimation of the histologic diagnosis of CIN, particularly when the lesion was focal. The data suggests that although cytology does detect a high percentage of cervical lesions with koilocytotic features (64/76, 84% in this study), it may not detect focal CIN II, CIN III lesions associated with condylomatous lesions in the same biopsy specimen. Therefore, it is proposed that all women with cytologic evidence of koilocytosis on cervical smears are deserving of a colposcopic examination.