Results of the healthcare of women with low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions

Introduction: Precursor lesions caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV) usually take 10 to 20 years to progress to invasive cancer. Most cervical cancers can be prevented by the early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions. Objective: To describe the results of the healthcare of these patients. Method: We carried out a prospective, longitudinal and descriptive study of 210 women with a cytological diagnosis of low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) in the Mariana Grajales de Santa Clara teaching hospital in Villa Clara (Spain) in 2009. Results: Most of the women were older than 25 years of age, 84.76% commenced sexual activity before the age of 20, had more than 20 years of sexual activity and reported having had two or three sexual partners. Only 17.5% used birth control methods that provided protection against sexually-transmitted diseases and 70.3% had one or two children. The results of colposcopy were normal in 49.5%. Abnormal images were found in 37.6%. Biopsy of the uterine neck was performed in 74 patients (35.4%) and a 2-year cytological-colposcopic follow-up was deemed opportune in 184 women (87.6%). The results of most of the follow-up cytologies carried out at 6 months in patients with cytological-colposcopic follow-up were normal. Conclusions: Correct cytological-colposcopic evaluation, together with appropriate analysis of the epidemic characteristics of women with LSIL, constitutes appropriate follow-up in these women. (C) 2011 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.