Outcome of colposcopy in women presenting with postcoital bleeding and negative or no cytology - results of a 1-year audit

Abstract

We set out to identify histological abnormalities in women presenting with postcoital bleeding at the colposcopy clinic and the detection rate of abnormalities. This was a retrospective study based on the colposcopy clinic at Scunthorpe General Hospital. We investigated 45 patients with postcoital bleeding, 12 with negative referral smears and 33 with no referral smears. We found that 8·33% of patients with a negative referral smear had a histological abnormality. In patients with no referral smear the rate was 24·24%. The overall incidence of histological abnormality in the study group was 20% and of cytological abnormality 11·11%. Colposcopically directed biopsy is almost twice as effective as cytology in the detection of abnormality. Patients referred with negative cytology have a lower incidence of histological abnormality than those with no cytology. Women with postcoital bleeding should be seen in the colposcopy clinic.