High Grade Cervical Dysplasia

Abnormal pap smear results may suggest that the woman has a high grade cervical dysplasia. Cervical dysplasia is a disease characterized by abnormal changes in the epithelium of the cervix. The amount of abnormal changes in the cervical epithelium determines the stage of cervical dysplasia, which may be mild, moderate or severe. Dysplasia is a precancerous disease of the cervix which may progress into cancer if left untreated. Based on the association with cervical caner, mild dysplasia is also called low grade dysplasia and moderate and severe dysplasias are called high grade cervical dysplasia.

There is a good evidence that dysplasia is frequently associated with cervical HPV infection. HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) is a virus that can initiate abnormal changes in the epithelial cells. Very often HPV infection shows itself as benign skin growths which are known as warts. However, in some cases HPV infection may not manifest itself, but it can trigger the development of low grade and high grade cervical dysplasia. Therefore, patients diagnosed with HPV infection should be regularly examined for abnormalities of the cervix.

If a woman has high grade cervical dysplasia, she has more chances to develop cervical cancer. If pap test indicates the presence of high grade cervical dysplasia, women are usually immediately referred for colposcopy and biopsy. In case these procedures provide a confirmation of high grade cervical dysplasia, the treatment of the lesions may be performed through cryotherapy, LEEP procedure, laser vaporization and cold knife biopsy. The management of women having high grade cervical lesions may vary depending on individual characteristics of each patient.

In comparison with high grade cervical dysplasia, low grade cervical lesions regress without any treatment much more frequently. Usually the management of women with mild dysplasia includes regular follow-up with Pap smears. If mild dysplasia does not regress on its own within several months, the woman is usually referred for colposcopic examination and testing for HPV.

There are different factors that increase chances of the patient for dysplasia and cancer of the cervix. They include sexual contacts with several partners, weakness of immune system, beginning of sexual activity at an early age, having repeated abnormal results of Pap smear, smoking, prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol and some others. If a patient with high grade cervical dysplasia has a history of some of these risk factors, she needs to receive treatment as soon as possible.