High-grade cervical neoplasia during pregnancy: diagnosis, management and postpartum findings.

OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 2-3) during pregnancy and compare the rates of persistence, progression and regression of CIN 2-3 by colposcopically guided biopsy during pregnancy with respect to the postpartum period. Also to assess biopsy results during pregnancy and postpartum in relation to histopathology after treatment of lesions. POPULATION: Pregnant women with a histological diagnosis of CIN 2-3 confirmed by colposcopically guided biopsy during pregnancy. METHODS: Between 1989 and 2008, 11 700 pregnant women had cytologic and simultaneous colposcopic examinations during pregnancy. A colposcopically guided biopsy was performed when colposcopically suspicious high-grade lesions were detected, regardless of cytological results. Women with a histopathological diagnosis of CIN 2-3 during pregnancy were re-evaluated by colposcopically guided biopsy and treated during the postpartum period. RESULTS: CIN 2-3 was diagnosed in 56 of 11 700 (0.48%) pregnant women by biopsy. Thirty women complying with the protocol were assessed postpartum by histopathological studies, of whom 70% exhibited persistence, 13.3% progression and 16.7% regression of CIN 2-3. Twenty-nine were diagnosed by conization and one by colposcopically guided biopsy during the postpartum period, which revealed invasive cervical carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the high rates of CIN 2-3 persistence during the postpartum period, we suggest that all patients in whom CIN 2-3 was diagnosed during pregnancy are biopsied and treated if necessary during the postpartum period, with at least a two-year follow-up control to prevent lesion recurrence.

Prevalence and comparison of diagnostic methods for Trichomonas vaginalis infection in pregnant women in Argentina.

The objectives of this study were to conduct a prevalence survey of trichomoniasis in pregnant women and to evaluate the utility of different methods for its diagnosis. A total of 597 vaginal exudates from pregnant women who were examined at the Hospital de Clinicas in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1 August 2005 to 31 January 2007, were prospectively and consecutively evaluated. The investigation of Trichomonas vaginalis was made by different microscopic examinations, and culture on liquid medium. The sensitivity and specificity of the microscopic examinations were assessed considering culture on liquid medium as the "gold standard". The prevalence of T. vaginalis obtained by culture on liquid medium was 4.0% (24/597). The prevalence of T. vaginalis obtained by direct wet smear, prolonged May-Grunwald Giemsa staining, and sodium acetate-formalin (SAF)/methylene blue staining-fixing technique was 1.8%, 2.3% and 2.5%, respectively. The sensitivity of the direct wet smear was 45.8%, that of the prolonged May-Grunwald Giemsa staining was 58.3%, and that of the SAF/methylene blue method was 62.5%. Considering the 3 microscopic examinations altogether, the sensitivity rose to 66.7% and the specificity was 100% for all of them. This is the first time that the prevalence data of T. vaginalis by culture in pregnant women are published in Argentina. Due to the low sensitivity obtained by microscopy in asymptomatic pregnant women, the use of the liquid medium is recommended during pregnancy, in order to provide an early diagnosis and treatment.