Quality of colposcopy and treatment: data from the national survey of Italian organised cervical screening programmes.

We collected from Italian organised cervical screening programmes data (a) on the correlation between colposcopic findings (according to the 1990 international classification) and histology and (b) on the treatment/management of screen-detected histologically confirmed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Data routinely recorded by organised programmes was provided as aggregated tables. We obtained data on colpo-histological correlation from 41 programmes. Of the 16,292 reported colposcopies, 43% were classified as normal and 23 % as unsatisfactory. CINI or more severe histology was detected in 2278/4449 (51%) of colposcopies classified as grade 1. CIN2 or more severe histology was detected in 651/1033 (63%) ofcolposcopies classified as grade 2 or higher. Ofall colposcopies that found CIN2 or more severe histology, 41% had a colposcopy classified as grade 2 or higher. We obtained data on treatment from 71 programmes. Of the 2,895 women with CINI, 73.4% had follow-up only, 14 (0.5%) of them had cold-knife conisation, 170 (5.9%) were treated by diathermocoagulation and 4 (0.1%) had hysterectomy. Of the 1972 women with CIN2 or CIN3, 4.8% had not yet been treated when data were collected and no data was available for a further 12.9%. Excision by radio-frequency device was the most common treatment among these women (58.7% of those with known treatment). However, 0.8% of women with CIN2 and 4.2% of women with CIN3 had hysterectomy. Of the 76 women with invasive carcinoma, 19.8%, plausibly with microinvasive disease, had excisional treatment only reported.