Cryotherapy in the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

More than ten years of experience has now accumulated relating to the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) by cryocautery. Cryotherapy has been established as an acceptable and effective therapeutic approach to CIN. Careful safeguards must be defined and respected to avoid the failure of diagnosing invasive carcinoma at the outset and to detect and manage persistent disease during follow-up. A treatment failure rate must be anticipated, but this failure rate does not appear excessive and is indeed comparable to that realized with other conservative forms of therapy. Presently, there appears to be no valid reason for proscribing or limiting the use of cryocautery in the treatment of CIN.