title: Follow-up findings in young females with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion papanicolaou test results.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  New guidelines discourage cervical screening and procedures in young females, given available human papillomavirus vaccines, concerns regarding procedure-associated harms, and the rarity of cervical cancers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyze histopathologic follow-up data on a large number of young females with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) Papanicolaou (Pap) test results.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospital records were searched for HSIL Pap test results in females 20 years or younger between January 2002 and December 2007. Histopathologic and Pap test follow-up, age group variations, and impact of Pap test transformation zone/endocervical sampling were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four hundred seventy-four females aged 20 years or younger had HSIL Pap test results during the study period. Three hundred thirty-five young females with at least one cervical biopsy were included. The average age was 18.6 years (range, 13-20 years). The average follow-up period was 24 months (range, 0.1-75 months), with a median of 22 months. Histopathologic detection rates were 44.2% for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2/3 and 47.8% for CIN 1. The average period between the HSIL Pap test result and an initial diagnosis of CIN 2/3 was 5 months (range, 0.1-62 months), with a median of 2 months. Neither invasive carcinoma nor adenocarcinoma in situ was identified. Presence or absence of a transformation zone/endocervical sample did not significantly impact CIN 2/3 risk (44.5% versus 38.9%, P = .64).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Histopathologic CIN 2/3 was documented in 148 of 335 (44%) of biopsied young females with HSIL Pap results, likely reflecting both the reported high likelihood of HSIL regression in younger females and the challenge of colposcopic sampling of relatively short-lived smaller CIN 2/3 lesions. Although no cases of invasive carcinoma were identified in this study, updated guidelines pose new risks for maturing females with undetected cervical precancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pennsylvania, 15213, USA. zhaoc@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Chengquan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Pal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kalposi-Novak
authors.forename: R Marshall
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Austin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D065006:Papanicolaou Test; D010414:Pennsylvania / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D014626:Vaginal Smears; D055815:Young Adult; D002578:Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*