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 Colposcopy is an examination using a microscope to magnify and examine carefully the surface of the external genitalia, vagina and cervix. There are a number of reasons why your healthcare provider may have recommended colposcopy with biopsy. The most common reason is to evaluate an abnormal pap smear. Colposcopy allows the practitioner to identify and sample the abnormal tissue. During the biopsy, a small pinch of tissue is removed and sent to a specialist for careful examination under the microscope. This tissue analysis allows your physician to determine whether or not there might be a pre-malignant or cancerous condition of the birth canal, which would need specific treatment. The major risks of colposcopy and biopsy include the following: • Bleeding – since biopsy entails removal of a small piece of tissue, there may be some bleeding. Normally this is controlled with the application of topical medicines during the procedure. Occasionally, a stitch may be required. Rarely bleeding may show up as a late complication after you have gone home requiring that you return to receive further treatment. • Infection – normally the cervix is fairly resistant to infection following biopsy. Occasionally infection does occur and may show up as unusual pain, discharge, bleeding, fever or bad odor. Infection may require that antibiotics be taken. • Missing Disease – the main purpose of using the colposcope to direct a biopsy of the birth canal is to help find the worst or most diseased areas for sampling. Occasionally this worst area is not visualized well with the colposcope and significant disease may be missed. In this circumstance, further biopsies and treatment may be necessary. It is very important that you follow up with all recommended treatment and testing. It is also important to realize that colposcopy with biopsy is not a “treatment” procedure but is a procedure to help clarify the type and extent of disease that you might have in your birth canal. Further treatment would be then recommended following the results of your biopsy. • Other precautions – please tell your practitioner whether or not pregnancy may be a possibility at the time your colposcopy and biopsy is scheduled. Special precautions can be taken at that time to help avoid complications with the pregnancy and not infrequently, specialist referral may be necessary. You should realize that the evaluation and treatment of abnormalities of tissue with the birth canal, such as an abnormal pap smear, often requires that you return to your practitioner on multiple occasions for treatment and further follow up testing. It is very important that you notify Birchwood Women's Health should you change your phone number or move so that we may be better able to contact you for results of your tests and further recommendations for treatment, etc. Failure to comply with recommended treatment could place you at risk for progressive disease of the birth canal and the possibility of developing a serious cancer. Please feel free to discuss any questions you may have regarding colposcopy and biopsy prior to undergoing testing.
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