Abnormal smear test results...

[clarebear1]

Got the results today and it said borderline changes and to go back in July for another. I have cervical erosion at the mo, do you think this could be what the abnormality is??...

thanks!
Well ive got to wait until my next smear in July and fingers crossed ill be back to normal without having to have any of this cone stuff done :-( Got a while to brace myself yet

If treatment is needed it tends by using a LLETZ or LEEP which is smaller than a cone biopsy and is usually under local anasthetic in outpatients.

Clarebear: the majority of women having a bordeline bnc) test go back to normal within 18 months. Younger women have more active cervices - the body is still
changing and developing, so if smear tests are done they are more likely to come back bnc because all the active cells can be difficult for us to read and interpret. That's one of the reasons for not screening the under 25s.

Screening pap tests is like a combination of a word search (looking through thousands of cells for often less than 50 dodgy ones) with trying decide what an abstract painting means. It can be straightforward or tricky!

Sayanything - sre you sure it was a cone biopsy? I too was hospitalised for 2-3 days, and also haemorrhaged. It was a full op under GA too. Mind this was years ago. Is it really done in 10 minutes nowadays?

Just done a bit of readng - I think the decision of LLETZ vs cone biopsy and GA vs local A depends upon the size of the area that needs to be removed.

Yes it does vary on the area needing treatment but the LLETZ loops come in different sizes and you can do a 'top-hat' loop excision which covers nearly the same area as a cone. In the UK, it's predominantly LLETZ that's used. Cone tends to more for glandular abnormalities and in specific cases.

hmm - so was I a specific case then? INteresting - LLETZ was never discussed as a possibility. Am I "special"?

Sorry, maybe I was getting my terms confused. I thought a cone biopsy was the procedure whereby tissue is removed from the cervic and then LLETZ, LEEP or scalpel is the method by which it's done. Apologies if I caused confusion.

My procedure was defo not done with a scalpel, it was a LEEP, hence the 10 minutes + local anaesthetic.

I had LLETZ under local anaesthetic of quite a large area of cervix going up into my cervical canal, and the surgeon described it as having taken a large cone out of my cervix, but not as having done a cone biopsy, as I think that term is normally reserved for a slightly different method of treatment (despite the fact that my LLETZ was also a biopsy (shaped like a cone...)!). I was told they only want to do treatments under GA if the area being treated is difficult to get to (eg disappearing right up inside the cervical canal, beyond where its borders can easily be seen). Or, I guess, if the woman concerned has a major problem with being awake during treatment. I'm more of a wanting-to-look-on-the-screen-while-they-treat sort of person and got a disgusting image of blood and oozing... maybe not to be recommended! And after all that, the result came back as no neoplasia, just benign metaplasia. However, I had had worthwhile treatment prior to that, when I actually did have CIN3 (in a very accessible place and therefore a lot less unpleasant!!!).

I think mine was so high up my scervix it was virtually in my throat

I am also a wanting-to-look-on-the-screen-while-they-treat sort of person and enjoyed watching my colonoscopy on screen

Glad it's not just me. I've always watched my injections, wanted to see my stitches, tried to see what they were doing to my breast during a core needle biopsy... I'm much better at dealing with what I can see and understand than what my morbid imagination can cook up! Probably puts the doctors off their work a bit, though!!! I have a terror of being put to sleep and not knowing what they've been up to...

Oh yes rabbitstew, the doctor was a bit when I asked him to tilt the screen a bit during my biopsy so I could see better.

Hi all
Just a moan really to get things off my mind hope nobody minds me butting in?
I was diagnosed with cin 3 when I was 17 when given a smear for the symptoms I had. Was given a loop diphtheria I think it was called I also had a cone biopsy, scrape and a laparoscopy all done at the same time under general anaesthetic. I have had the all clear ever since until recently when usual symptoms have started again, smear done showed borderline changes but hpv negative also been told I have ectropion, due to symptoms gyne has referred me for colcoscapy which I have on wed. I know I'm probably being silly but I am really nervous. Oh and just to say when I had my treatment 22 years ago I was in and out the following day. X