Screening for XXXX : a new scope for general practitioners? Results of the first year of colposcopy in general practice.

@entity1 @entity5 @entity75 @entity29908 @entity3502 @entity2335 @entity3146
A survey was carried out over one year of all the @entity1 who attended a colposcopy clinic in a general practice. During the year 1254 @entity1 underwent cytological screening in the practice and 197 of these underwent colposcopy. Of 79 @entity1 with abnormal smears that suggested @entity3146 , 62 (79%) were confirmed by biopsy to have cervical premalignancy. In addition, the remaining 118 @entity1 with normal or inflammatory smears underwent colposcopy either because of their history or because they requested the investigation. A general underestimate of @entity3146 when cytology alone was used was discovered. Seven out of 28 @entity1 with inflammatory smears were found to have important cervical premalignancy. Mildly dyskaryotic smears led to a falsely reassuring estimate of the degree of severity of @entity75 . Seven out of 13 @entity1 who underwent colposcopy because they were thought to be at high risk of @entity5 because of a history of @entity3502 , unexplained recurrent @entity2335 , @entity29908 , or immunosuppression had @entity3146 proved at biopsy. This report shows that both in screening for and in the follow up of known cervical disease a normal smear cannot guarantee normal pathology. Diagnostic colposcopy is a valuable complementary investigation that could be carried out in a general practice.
