Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia in postmenopausal women with negative cervical cytology Four cases of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia were detected among 50 postmenopausal women in whom cytological examination of a cervical smear yielded negative results, indicating the need for cytological surveillance of women into old age. Patients, methods, and resultsCytological and colposcopic examination of the cervix was performed in 50 women presenting to a menopausal clinic with symptoms of the climacteric before they began hormone replacement treatment. The mean (SD) age was 50-38 (4.51) years with a mean postmenopausal time of 31 (33'87)

In-situ hybridization of radiolabelled DNA probes to tissue sections detected RNA complementary to HSV-2 (herpes simplex virus) DNA in 65% (22 of 34) biopsies from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and in none of internally paired benign epithelia from individuals before treatment by laser vaporization cone. Laser therapy did not produce an increase in clinical or subclinical HSV infections of the cervix. Of 18 patients with RNA complementary to HSV-2 DNA in CIN biopsies before treatment, in whom treatment was successful, virus transcripts were detected at follow-up in only two of them.