Pain and cramping associated with cryosurgery.

BACKGROUND

Many different cryosurgery methods have been described for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pain and cramping perceived by patients undergoing four specific cryosurgical methods.

METHODS

Seventy women consented to the prospective trial and were assigned to one of four cryosurgery techniques: a 2-minute double freeze, a 3-minute double freeze, a 5-minute single freeze, and a 5-minute double freeze. Immediately following the procedure, a trained interviewer recorded each woman's perceptions of pain and cramping. Age, parity, marital status, financial class, race or ethnicity, lesion severity, and pretreatment with a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) were included in the analysis.

RESULTS

The median pain scores for the 2-minute double freeze, the 3-minute double freeze, the 5-minute single freeze, and the 5-minute double freeze were 4, 3, 3, and 7, respectively, on a scale of 0 to 10. The median cramping scores for the procedures were 0, 0, 0, and 7, respectively. The median pain and cramping scores were significantly higher for the 5-minute double freeze than for any of the other procedures (P = .012 and P = < .001, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Pain and cramping are associated with cryosurgery, but the 5-minute double freeze caused the most pain and cramping of all the cryosurgery methods tested. Pretreatment with an NSAID did not lessen the cramping or pain perceived during the 5-minute double freeze.