Abstract

PIP: An analysis of data on 815 acceptors of Cu-IUD who had 48 months of followup was conducted in order to study the role of Cu-IUD in cervical carcinogenesis. The acceptors were registered during the period from 1971 to 1972; this cohort would complete 48 months of use by the end of December 1976, the cut off date adopted for the study. Smears from ectocervix, endocervix and endometrial aspiarate were obtained from each women. The analysis was based on exocervical smears collected from women using Cu-IUD. Cytomorphological evaluation of the smears was based on the criteria established by the World Health Organization. Before IUD acceptance, 30 women had dysplastic lesion. An equal number developed dysplasia during the followup period. The rate of initial dysplastic lesion among acceptors was 3.7%. At the end of the 48 month period, all the cases of dysplasia observed either initially or during followup periods regressed to normalcy. The developed dysplasia cases were slightly younger than the initial cases. The mean age of developed dysplasia cases was 29.3 years as compared to 30.2 years for initial cases. The initial dysplasia cases were more with 1-2 parity; the newly developed dysplasia cases were in 3-4 parity group. As yet there is no conclusive evidence regarding the carcinogenic properties of copper containing IUDs.