Effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of cryotherapy by midwives for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in Maharashtra, India.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of cryotherapy for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) when provided by trained midwives in rural India.


METHODS
Women with colposcopic findings of CIN lesions suitable for ablative treatment received cryotherapy from trained midwives before the biopsy results were known. Cure rates, adverse effects, and complications were assessed and factors influencing cure rates were evaluated by chi(2) tests. Cure was defined as no clinical or histologic evidence of CIN lesions 6 or more months after treatment.


RESULTS
Of 1068 women treated with cryotherapy, 728 had histologically proven CIN in their pretreatment biopsy specimens; of the 574 reporting for follow-up, 538 (93.7%) were cured (95% confidence interval [CI], 92.1%-96.3%). Cure rates were 96.4% (95% CI, 94.6%-98.1%) for CIN 1 and 82.1% (95% CI, 74.7%-89.4%) for CIN 2 and CIN 3 lesions combined. Minor adverse effects were documented in 5.2% of the women.


CONCLUSIONS
Cryotherapy provided by midwives was found to be safe, effective, and acceptable by the women.
Nene
Bhagwan M
BM
Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Hospital, Tata Memorial Centre Rural Cancer Extension Project, Barshi, Solapur District, Maharashtra, India.
Hiremath
Pragna S
PS
Kane
Subhadha
S
Fayette
Jean-Marie
JM
Shastri
Surendra S
SS
Sankaranarayanan
Rengaswamy
R
D000328:Adult; D017679:Cryotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D008880:Midwifery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*