title: The incidental finding of abnormal cervical histology in postmenopausal patients.
abstract: A report is supplied on 216 samples of cervical tissue incidentally found in 684 endometrial specimens collected during hysteroscopic examination of postmenopausal women with uterine bleeding and a recent negative Pap smear. We found 43 (19.9%) specimens including cervical tissue with some histologic sign of pathology. Twenty-five (11.6%) had histologic features suggestive for human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, while 18 (8.3%) had cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Of the 18 CIN cases, 9 were CIN I, 6 CIN II and 3 CIN III. Altogether, the prevalence of dysplasia in postmenopausal women with recently referred normal cervical cytology was impressive. A significant number of dysplastic lesions (14 out of 18, 77.7%) did not present any histologic sign of HPV. Also, none of the histologic diagnoses of sub-clinical HPV infection was confirmed by the in situ hybridization. Considering the significant prevalence of high grade lesions (9 CIN II and III, 4.2% of the analysed samples) found in this randomly selected patient population, our data strongly suggest the need for a regular follow-up of the transformation zone in all postmenopausal women. Although in women of postmenopausal age some low grade lesions seem to have only a reactive-reparative significance, a more accurate screening procedure, taking into account the peculiar modifications of the menopausal uterine cervix, is advisable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gerbaldo
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cristoforoni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Leone
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Casciaro
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baracchini
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fulcheri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000473:pathology*; D004717:Endometrium / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D027383:Papillomaviridae; D030361:Papillomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D017698:Postmenopause; D014412:Tumor Virus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002577:Uterine Cervical Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology