Cervical procedure raises risk of preterm birth

SATURDAY June 6, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) -- A popular procedure for women who have abnormal cells in the cervix could raise risk of pregnancy complications in the patients, according to a UK study in the medical journal The Lancet.

Loop electrosurgical excision procedure, or LEEP, is indicated for removal of abnormal cells from the cervix as a measure to prevent the cells from becoming precancerous or cancerous.

The study showed that women who underwent the surgery were at significantly higher risk of having preterm babies or having a low-birth weight infant, both of which are undesirable.

The researchers suggested that doctors should exercise caution when deciding how to treat young women with only mild cervical abnormalities or precancerous cells.

The surgery cuts a thin layer of tissue and weakens the physical resistance of the cervix, making preterm birth and other pregnancy complications possible.

For the study, Dr. Maria Kyrgiou of Central Lancashire Teaching Hospitals in Preston, Great Britain and colleagues meta-analyzed data from 27 previous studies to evaluate different methods including LEEP, cold knife conization, laser conization, and laser ablation for their effects on pregnancy complications.

They found that LEEP raised the odds of preterm delivery and delivering a low-birth infant by 70 percent and 82 percent respectively. The procedure also tripled the risk of premature rupturing of the cervical membranes.

Cold knife conization, which is used to excise a cone-shaped piece of tissue, increased the risks by nearly two and a half times. It also tripled the risk for Caesarean section. Laser conization, another method that uses a laser knife to cut away tissue, resulted in similar consequences, but its effect was not statistically significant.

Laser ablation did not seem to increase risks in pregnancy, the researchers found.

By Jimmy Downs, and edited by Heather Kelley.
Jun 7, 2008 - 12:31:46 PM