The significance of cervical erosion with benign cellular change on Papanicolaou smear has not been evaluated. A retrospective review of 430 coloscopically directed punch biopsies performed over 15 months revealed 206 cases who had a benign cellular change on cytologic smear. Of these 206 smears, 48(23%) had clear cervix without erosion, 99(48%) had mild erosion on cervix, 41(20%) had moderate cervical erosion and 18(9%) had severe cervical erosion. The false negative rate that revealed more than mild dysplasia on histologic diagnosis was 2% in patients without cervical erosion, 3% in patients with mild cervical erosion, 5 % in patients with moderate cervical erosion, and 11% in patients with severe cervical er- osion. Koilocytotic change that suggested human papilloma virus infection was 17% in each group regardless cervical erosion. In conclusion, benign cellular change on Pap smears in patients with severe cervical erosion may be associated with significant cervical cancer pathology.
Biopsy ; Cervix Uteri ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Papanicolaou Test* ; Papilloma ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms