Correlation Between Colposcopic Impression And Histologic Diagnosis Of Premalignant Lesions Of The Cervix

Background: Cervical cancer is the commonest cancer in sub-Saharan African with majority of the women presenting with an advanced disease stage. This is largely due to the unavailability of an established cervical cancer screening programme in most countries. This also includes the use of colposcopy which is still not available to many gynaecologists practicing in Nigeria.Aim: To review reports of colposcopy carried out at the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria and to determine the degree of concurrence between colposcopic impression and histologic diagnosis.Methods: A retrospective analysis of the colposcopic findings of 84 patients was done. Subsequent correlation with histopathology report was carried out in 53 patients who had colposcopically directed biopsies between March 2012 and February 2014.Results: The commonest impression made on colposcopy was high grade CIN in 40(47.6%) patients. The concurrence rate between colposcopic findings and histology diagnosis was 64.2% (34/53) {K =0.302, 95%CI= -0.010-0.436}. The concurrence rate was higher for high grade CIN 29/40(72.5%) than for low grade CIN 5/12 (41.7 %). There was an overestimation of colposcopic diagnosis in 13(24.5%) patients and an underestimation in 6(11.3%) patients. The sensitivity of colposcopy for detecting high grade lesions or more was32/36(88.9%) while the specificity was 8/17(47.1%). False positive rate for high grade lesions was 9/17(52.9%) and false negative rates for low grade lesions was 4/36(11.1%). Positive predictive value (PPV) of high grade colposcopic diagnosis or more was 32/41(78.04%) while the negative predictive value (NPV) was 8/12(66.73%).Conclusion: The strength of agreement between colposcopic diagnosis and cervical pathology was fair and colposcopy performs better in the detection of high grade lesions.