New understanding of cervical erosion

In daily life, people often hear the term "cervical erosion". Due to unclear understanding of the disease, many women often panic when diagnosed with cervical erosion, thinking that cervical erosion means that the cervix is ​​"rotten". They blindly use medication for treatment, which leads to overtreatment.

Indeed, "cervical erosion" was once recognized and treated as chronic inflammation of the cervix or even precancerous lesions. Recent views believe that "cervical erosion" is a single layer of columnar epithelium covering the surface of the cervix, rather than a true shedding of the epithelium; it is the columnar epithelium and transformation zone on the inner side after the squamocolumnar junction moves outward. Therefore, some scholars suggest that the erosive appearance of the columnar epithelium moving outward be called cervical columnar epithelium migration or ectopia. At present, the term cervical erosion has been abandoned in the West and renamed cervical columnar epithelium ectopia, believing that it is not a pathological change. In addition, foreign countries generally do not treat those with mild inflammation, only do cytological screening, and make corresponding treatments based on the cytological results.

It should be noted that it is currently unclear whether columnar epithelial ectopia increases the chance of infection by pathogens or affects the occurrence of cervical lesions or cervical cancer. However, relevant examinations should be performed on such women clinically to rule out the presence of concurrent infections. They should undergo cervical cancer prevention examinations once every 1 to 2 years, and then decide whether to treat and how to treat them. Women who develop symptoms should be treated, but relevant examinations such as cytology screening and (or) pathogen testing are required before treatment. Generally speaking, those with normal cervical cytology and negative pathogen tests do not need treatment.