The Clinical Significance and The Optimal Management of Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance in Cervical Smears / 대한산부인과학회잡지

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical significance and the optimal management of atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) in Papanicolaou cervical smears. METHOD: This study included 25380 cases of cervical Pap smears received from January 1995 to June 2000 by the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Inha Hospital, Medical College, the Inha University. Retrospective review was done on 384 cases of ASCUS. RESULT: ASCUS and squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) were diagnosed in 384 cases (1.5%), and 311 cases (1.1%), respectively. The ratio of ASCUS to SIL was 1.2. Colposcopic directed biopsies revealed 14 cases (14.1%) of low grade SIL (LSIL), 21 cases (21.2%) of high grade SIL (HSIL), and 2 cases (2.0%) of squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSION: The immediate colposcopy with biopsy in women with ASCUS may decrease follow-up visits for Pap testing, reduce patient anxiety, minimize the loss of high risk cases during follow-up and lower medicolegal litigation. The early colposcopy may be the method of choice for follow-up in women with ASCUS in Korea.

A Case of Tuberculosis of the Cervix / 대한산부인과학회잡지

Tuberculosis of the uterine cervix is a rare disorder and the cervix is reported to be involved in 5-15 percent of the case of genital tuberculosis. It is discovered incidentally in most cases. The genital lesions are secondary to tuberculosis elsewhere, usually, the lungs. Primary cervical tuberculosis is very rare. The cytologic diagnosis of cervical tuberculosis is difficult. The histological diagnosis of genital tuberculosis presents no problems when the typical caseating necrosis and Langhans giant cell granulomas are present in tissue. And the presence of tubercle bacilli in biopsy specimens as well as in cultures of one specimen confirmed the diagnosis. We report a case of tuberculosis of the cervix confirmed by histologic examination with brief review.