Treatment of Carcinoma in Situ

Patients with cancer that has not invaded are considered Stage 0. Radiation is rarely used and these patients are generally treated with surgery as noted below from the NCI.

Stage 0 Cervical Cancer (from the NCI)

Properly treated, tumor control of in situ cervical carcinoma should be nearly 100%. Either expert colposcopic-directed biopsy or cone biopsy is required to exclude invasive disease before therapy is undertaken. A correlation between cytology and colposcopic-directed biopsy is also necessary before local ablative therapy is done. Even so, unrecognized invasive disease treated with inadequate ablative therapy may be the most common cause of failure.Failure to identify the disease, lack of correlation between the Pap smear and colposcopic findings, adenocarcinoma in situ, or extension of disease into the endocervical canal makes a laser, loop, or cold-knife conization mandatory. The choice of treatment will also depend on several patient factors including age, desire to preserve fertility, and medical condition. Most important, the extent of disease must be known.

In selected cases, the outpatient loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) may be an acceptable alternative to cold-knife conization. This quickly performed in-office procedure requires only local anesthesia and obviates the risks associated with general anesthesia for cold-knife conization.However, controversy exists as to the adequacy of LEEP as a replacement for conization.A trial comparing LEEP with cold-knife cone biopsy showed no difference in the likelihood of complete excision of dysplasia.However, 2 case reports suggested that the use of LEEP in patients with occult invasive cancer led to an inability to accurately determine depth of invasion when a focus of the cancer was transected.

Standard treatment options:

Methods to treat ectocervical lesions include:

1. Loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP).
2. Laser therapy.
3. Conization.
4. Cryotherapy.

When the endocervical canal is involved, laser or cold-knife conization may be used for selected patients to preserve the uterus and avoid radiation therapy and/or more extensive surgery.

Total abdominal or vaginal hysterectomy is an accepted therapy for the postreproductive age group and is particularly indicated when the neoplastic process extends to the inner cone margin. For medically inoperable patients, a single intracavitary insertion with tandem and ovoids for 5,000 milligram hours (8,000 cGy vaginal surface dose) may be used.