Frequency of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade II or worse in women with a persistent low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion seen by Papanicolaou smears.

PURPOSE: We investigated the frequency of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade II or worse in low-income Brazilian women with persistent low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records was performed for all patients who underwent a loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) with "see and treat" strategy for persistent LSIL seen on Papanicolaou (Pap) smears (persisting >12 months in at least two consecutive tests, over a 50-month period. We assessed the colposcopy and histopathology results at the time of the procedure and at follow-up, using Pap and histopathology. RESULTS: Of 106 women, 48 (45.3 %) had no dysplasia by histopathology, 18 (17.0 %) had CIN I, 29 (27.4 %) had CIN II and 10 (9.4 %) had CIN III. Among the patients with CIN, 38 (66.7 %) performed the follow-up. Of these, only 4 (10.5 %) were classified as follow-up (+), all had CIN I. Women with initial CIN I had 16.7 % (n = 2) recurrences; those with initial CIN II had 5.9 % (n = 1); and those with initial CIN III had 11.1 % (n = 1) (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A very high proportion of the women with persistent LSIL had CIN II/III on post-LEEP histopathology. Recurrence rates were equal to than those that originally caused the patients to be subjected to LEEP (LSIL). The benefits of the "see and treat" protocol by LEEP for persistent LSIL outweigh the risk of overtreatment, principally in low-resource settings where poor patient compliance is expected, as in Brazil.

Cervical cytology of atypical squamous cells cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (ASC-H): histological results and recurrence after a loop electrosurgical excision procedure.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the histology of the loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) surgical tissues of patients with ASC-H and post-LEEP recurrence. METHODS: Medical records of patients with ASC-H treated with LEEP between January 2004 and March 2008 in the town of União da Vitória, Paraná, seat of the Sixth Public Health Region of Paraná (CISVALI), were evaluated. The LEEP was carried out solely for ASC-H immediately after colposcopy, but without a histological diagnosis. RESULTS: Most patients were less than 40 years old (71.1%), with the largest group 20-39 years old (p < 0.0001). Twenty-eight patients (73.3%) showed histological lesions. Cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) I was present in 7 (18.4%), CIN II and CIN III in 9 (23.7%) each, microinvasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCMCA) in 2 (5.3%), and SCMCA plus in situ adenocarcinoma in 1 (2.2%). In 32 patients (84.2%), there was no involvement of the margins, including 100% with no dysplasia histology and CIN I, 80.0% of those with CIN II, and 88.9% of those with CIN III. Two patients (5.3%) had endocervical involvement, all of them with CIN II. Four patients (10.5%) had ectocervical and endocervical involvement, one of them with CIN III, and three of them with carcinomas. All patients with follow-up (+) were ASC-US, with no patients with dysplasia or CIN I. CONCLUSIONS: A very high portion of the women with ASC-H had lesions on post-LEEP histological examination, principally CIN II and III. These data show the benefits of treatment for ASC-H by LEEP immediately after colposcopy but without any previous histology.

Effect of pepstatin A on the virulence factors of Candida albicans strains isolated from vaginal environment of patients in three different clinical conditions.

The aspartate proteinase inhibitor pepstatin A was used to study a possible correlation among proteinase activity and other virulence factors of Candida albicans strains isolated from the vaginal environment of patients in three different clinical conditions: asympthomatic, vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). The addition of 1.0 muM pepstatin A did not have any significant effect on hyphae formation, biofilm production and in the cell surface hydrofobicity of isolates in the three different clinical conditions. However, pepstatin A reduced the adherence of C. albicans to vaginal mucosa epithelial cells (53.1, 48.7 and 59.9%, respectively to isolates from asymptomatic, VVC and RVVC patients). This result suggests that the secreted aspartate proteinases (Saps) of this fungal pathogen may have auxiliary roles in cellular adhesion.

Vulvovaginal candidiasis is associated with the production of germ tubes by Candida albicans.

Twenty Candida albicans strains isolated from women attended at the Teaching and Research in the Laboratory of Teaching and Research in Clinical Analysis of the State University of Maringa, Paraná, Brazil, have been analyzed. Yeasts were identified by classical methods and patients subdivided into asymptomatic, vulvovaginal candidiasis(VVC) and recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC) groups. Yeasts were incubated in RPMI + fetal calf serum to analyze germ tubes every two hours, up to 10 h. In vitro sensitivity to fluconazole, itraconazole, ketoconazole, amphotericin B and nystatin was analyzed according to NCCLS-M27-A microdilution assay. Yeast isolated from symptomatic women produced significantly more germ tubes than asymptomatic women (P < 0.05). However, no significant difference between yeasts from VVC and RVVC occurred (P > 0.05). Variation between MIC50 and MIC90 of tested antifungal agents was slight among isolated yeasts, while no resistant yeasts were detected. Nevertheless, VVC yeasts were more DDS (reduced dose-dependent susceptibility) for nystatin and RVVC were more DDS for ketoconazole. Results suggest that colonization by yeast in the vagina and lack of symptoms may be partially explained by the yeast's sparse capacity to form germ tubes, On the other hand, RVVC was not associated with antimicrobial resistance. DDS high frequency for nystatin and ketoconazole indicates that identification, and susceptibility of antifungals tests are important to management of VVC.