Clinical analysis of cervical intraepithelial lesion in postmenopausal women

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the pathological escalation after cervical cone resection in postmenopausal women, and analyze the related influencing factors. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University between July 2013 and January 2015. Seven hundred and fifty cases of cervical cone-cut were enrolled in this study, 129 cases of them were postmenopausal women, and 621 were premenopausal women. All results of patients' liquid-based thin-layer cytology (TCT) , HPV test, colposcopy and biopsy pathology, cervical cone resection and postoperative pathological examination were collected. Then the compliance with the pathological examination results after colposcopic cervical biopsy and cervical cone resection, and the related factors affecting the pathological escalation after cervical cone resection were analyzed. The pathological escalation of patients with different menopausal conditions after cervical cone resection was also analyzed. Results: (1) Of the 750 patients, there were 329 patients had the same pathological examination results after colposcopic cervical biopsy and cervical cone resection, which accounted for 43.9% (329/750) . And 216 cases demonstrated pathological escalation after cervical cone resection, which accounted for 28.8% (216/750) . The results of TCT examination and menopause were significantly correlated with the pathological escalation after cervical cone resection (P<0.05) . However, the condition of HPV infection was unrelated to pathological escalation after cervical cone resection (P>0.05) . (2) Compared with the different results of TCT examination [including non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) , atypical squamous cell of undetermined signification (ASCUS) , low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) , high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) ], the ratio of pathological escalation after cervical cone resection was not statistically significant difference between postmenopausal and non-menopausal patients (P>0.05) . The proportion of pathological escalation of patients with >5 years of menopause was significantly higher than that of patients with menopause time ≤5 years (40.3% vs 27.7%, OR=1.8, 95%CI: 1.1-2.8, P=0.029) . Among them, when the result of TCT examination was LSIL, the rate of pathological escalation in patients > 5 years of menopause was significantly higher than that in menopause time ≤5 years (6/10 vs 26.3%, OR=4.2, 95%CI: 1.1-15.8, P=0.033) . While the results of TCT examination were NILM, ASCUS or HSIL showed there was no statistically significant difference between two groups (P>0.05) . (3) Among the 143 cases, of which the result of TCT examination was LSIL, 9 cases of the pathological examination results after cervical resection were escalated to cervical cancer, which accounted for 6.3% (9/143) . Among 10 cases of menopause time >5 years, 2 cases (2/10) of the pathological examination results after cervical cone resection were escalated to cervical cancer. Among 133 cases with menopause time ≤ 5 years, 7 cases (5.3%) were upgraded to cervical cancer after cervical cone resection. The ratio of pathological escalation to cancer in postmenopausal patients with >5 years was higher than that of menopause time ≤5 years. Due to the data volume limitation, the comparison was not statistically significant difference (χ2=0.460, P>0.05) . Conclusions: In postmenopausal women, especially when menopausal time is > 5 years, the proportion of pathological escalation after cervical cone resection following colposcopic cervical biopsy is increased. And the pathological escalation after cervical cone resection is significantly correlated with the results of TCT examination and menopausal status. Therefore, doctors should treat the colposcopic biopsy pathological results with caution during clinic. Depending on TCT results, loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) sampling could be administrated directly in case of avoid missing diagnosis.