Todo lo que debes saber sobre la colposcopia
Written by:Colposcopy is the exploration of the vagina and the cervix using optics that amplify the images. The Dra. Santillán, an expert in gynecology , talks about this test that allows early diagnosis of premalignant and malignant lesions of the vagina and cervix.
Diagnosis of cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer in women after breast cancer and the fourth most frequent cancer in women. It has a fairly constant natural history, so early diagnosis is essential. The infection of human papillomavirus is almost always a predisposing factor.
The early diagnosis of cervical cancer is mainly made by cytology. That is, cells are taken from the cervix, stained (Papanicolaou stain) and observed under the microscope. However, the diagnostic capacity of cytology is limited and you do not always detect premalignant or malignant cells.
When the colposcopy is performed
Colposcopy is mandatory when performing an abnormal cytology , since it is necessary to perform a biopsy, that is, take a larger amount of tissue to confirm the diagnosis, but this is not the only indication. Colposcopy is always a useful and safe tool to improve the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. The sensitivity of cytology to detect lesions is between 5 and 9 out of 10 cases. This percentage is so broad because it depends on how the shot is made. To correctly perform it, the correct visualization of the transformation zone is very important. This is achieved whenever the cytology is complemented with colposcopy; but unfortunately only half of the cytologies that are performed without colposcopy are achieved.
What is colposcopy?
When a colposcopy is performed, acetic acid must be administered to detect areas of infection by the human papillomavirus.. Finally, the colposcopy is completed with the application of a lugol solution (Schiller's test) with which all the healthy tissue is stained and which has glycogen.
Therefore, colposcopy is a simple and inoculative technique that improves the diagnostic capacity of cytology with a sensitivity of almost 100 percent in screening for cervical cancer.
