Treatments Used To Remove Abnormal Cervical Cells Increase Risk For Problems During Pregnancy, Study Says

Treatments used to remove abnormal cervical cells increase a woman's risk for problems during pregnancy, according to a study published on Friday in the journal Lancet, Reuters reports. Maria Kyrgiou of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital in London and colleagues looked at 27 previous studies that examined treatments used to remove abnormal cells from the cervix (Reuters, 2/10). Researchers compared the different methods to remove tissue, including cold knife or laser conization, in which a conical sample of tissue is removed; laser ablation, in which a laser is used to remove the tissue; and a loop electrosurgical excision procedure, in which tissue is removed using a wire loop and a low-level electrical current. The study finds that women undergoing cold knife conization were two-and-a-half times as likely to deliver prematurely or deliver a low-birthweight infant and three times as likely to deliver by caesarean section as women who did not undergo cold knife conization, according to HealthDay News/Forbes. Women undergoing LEEP were between 70% and 80% more likely to deliver prematurely or deliver a low-birthweight infant and almost three times as likely to experience a rupture of the cervical membranes compared with women who did not undergo LEEP, HealthDay News/Forbes reports. Researchers also found that women undergoing laser ablation were not at an increased risk for complications compared with women who did not undergo laser ablation, according to HealthDay News/Forbes (HealthDay News/Forbes, 2/9). Kyrgiou said, "This information should be considered when counseling women before their consent to treatment and lends support to the philosophy of doctors not treating young women with mild abnormalities," adding that the findings "probably favor" beginning cervical screening after age 25 "with respect to long-term obstetric outcomes" (Reuters, 2/10).


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