Purpose: The aim of the present study was to analyze the long-term outcome of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 (CIN 3) after treatment with the Shimodaira-Taniguchi conization procedure, based on the status of the resection margins.
Methods: In the Osaka University Hospital, conization using the Shimodaira-Taniguchi procedure has been routinely performed for CIN 3. Medical records of patients during the period from 2001 to 2008, whose post-conization diagnosis was CIN 3, were retrospectively analyzed for outcome versus margin status.
Results: During the median follow-up period of 565 days (range 34-3,013), CIN disease was again detected in 14 of 243 patients; it was found in 7 patients among 198 margin-negative cases, and in 7 patients among 45 margin-positive cases. There was a significant difference in the reappearance rate demonstrated between the cases with positive and negative margins (p = 0.0018). Among the patients whose first follow-up post-conization cytology was normal, recurrence-free probability was significantly higher in margin-negative cases than in margin-positive ones (hazard ratio, 5.19; 95% CI, 1.175-22.994; p = 0.0041).
Conclusion: For the first time, we demonstrate that after treatment of CIN 3 lesions by Shimodaira-Taniguchi conization the status of the resection margin was a significant predictor for long-term outcome.