Evidence supporting see-and-treat management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Studies of see-and-treat management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) vary in their inclusion criteria, resulting in a broad range of overtreatment rates.

Objectives: To determine overtreatment rates in see-and-treat management of women referred for colposcopy because of suspected CIN, in order to define circumstances supporting see-and-treat management.

Search strategy: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception up to 12 May 2014.

Selection criteria: Studies of see-and-treat management in women with a reported cervical smear result, colposcopic impression, and histology result were included.

Data collection and analysis: Methodological quality was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa scale. We used the inverse variance method for pooling incidences, and a random-effects model was used to account for heterogeneity between studies. Overtreatment was defined as treatment in patients with no CIN or CIN1.

Main results: Thirteen studies (n = 4611) were included. The overall overtreatment rate in women with a high-grade cervical smear and a high-grade colposcopic impression was 11.6% (95% CI 7.8-15.3%). The overtreatment rate in women with a high-grade cervical smear and low-grade colposcopic impression was 29.3% (95% CI 16.7-41.9%), and in the case of a low-grade smear and high-grade colposcopic impression it was 46.4% (95% CI 15.7-77.1%). In women with a low-grade smear and low-grade colposcopic impression, the overtreatment rate was 72.9% (95% CI 68.1-77.7%).

Author's conclusions: The pooled overtreatment rate in women with a high-grade smear and high-grade colposcopic impression is at least comparable with the two-step procedure, which supports the use of see-and-treat management in this subgroup of women.

Tweetable abstract: See-and-treat management is justified in the case of a high-grade smear and a high-grade colposcopic impression.