Predictors of recurrence in patients with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia after cervical conization

This study was to identify the predictors of recurrence in patients with high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) after cervical conization. Totally 415 patients with CIN ≥ II who underwent loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) or cold knife conization (CKC) were included in this retrospective study. Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) regarding the association between postoperative recurrence and clinicopathological data. After the mean follow-up of (21.48 ± 5.82) months, 90 (21.69%) out of 415 cases were subjected to recurrence after cervical conization. The influencing factors for postoperative recurrence included times of full-term birth, history of preterm birth, history of abortion, positive margin, cone length, width, depth, smoking, and history of complicating diseases (P < .05). Multivariate Cox model indicated the positive margin (HR = 2.144, 95% CI: 1.317–3.492, P < .05), history of preterm birth (HR = 4.515, 95% CI: 1.598–12.754, P < .05), history of complicating diseases (HR = 3.552, 95% CI: 1.952–6.462, P < .05) were independent risk factors for recurrence after cervical conization. The restricted cubic diagram showed that the cone depth >0.5 cm was a protective factor for postoperative recurrence. For the patients with high-grade CIN after cervical conization, positive margins, histories of preterm birth, and complicating diseases were associated with increased risk of recurrence, but cone depth (>0.5 cm) with lower risk of recurrence.