Loop excision of the uterine cervix.

Over the past three years, loop excision has become a standard form of therapy for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. Clinical trials have found loop excision to be faster and easier than laser ablation for treating cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and to have similar complication and success rates. In addition, loop excision produces a specimen that is suitable for histopathologic evaluation in the majority of patients. As our clinical experience with loop excision has increased, little impact on fertility and pregnancy outcome has been found, but there continues to be concern about overuse of the technique as a method of evaluating women with low-grade abnormal Papanicolaou smears.