CARBON-DIOXIDE LASER TREATMENT OF CERVICAL DYSPLASIA IN TEENAGERS

Over a 6-year period, 40 young women under 20 years of age with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade I (58%) to grade III (10%) were treated by laser vaporisation or excisional conisation. This prevalence of CIN in young women (nearly 4% of laser-treated cases) underscores the need for detection of cervical abnormalities in all teenagers engaged in sexual relations. The colposcopically-guided carbon dioxide laser technique is the treatment of choice for vaporisation and conisation of intraepithelial lesions (extending to the periphery of the cervix in 20% of cases) and for vaporisation of associated condylomatous lesions of the cervix (75%), vagina (23%), vulva (48%) and/or anus (8%).