Four common pathological changes of chronic cervicitis

Chronic cervicitis, due to its slow onset and long course, often presents with a variety of pathological changes, the most common of which are cervical erosion, cervical polyps, cervicitis hypertrophy and cervical glandular cysts. Here we will introduce the changes in these four types of chronic cervicitis cases one by one.

1. Cervical erosion: Cervical erosion is the most common pathological change of chronic cervicitis. The cervical vaginal area at the external cervical opening appears as a fine granular red area, which is called cervical erosion.

2. Cervical polyps: Chronic cervicitis causes local mucosal hyperplasia of the cervical canal due to long-term stimulation. The uterus has a tendency to expel foreign bodies, causing the hyperplastic mucosa to gradually protrude from the base to the external cervical opening to form polyps, one or more polyps of varying sizes, generally about 1 cm in diameter, red in color, tongue-shaped, soft and brittle, easy to bleed, with a slender pedicle. The roots are mostly attached to the external cervical opening, and a few are on the wall of the cervical canal.

3. Cervical hypertrophy: Due to the long-term stimulation of chronic cervicitis, the cervical tissue becomes congested and edematous, and the glands and stroma proliferate. Mucus may also accumulate deep in the glands to form cysts, causing the cervix to hypertrophy and increase in hardness to varying degrees, but the surface is mostly smooth, and sometimes cervical gland cyst protrusions can be seen.

4. Cervical gland cyst: During the healing process of cervical erosion, the newly formed squamous epithelium covers the opening of the cervical gland duct or extends into the gland duct, blocking the opening of the gland duct; the connective tissue around the gland duct proliferates or scars form, compressing the gland duct, causing the gland duct to narrow or even block it, and the drainage of glandular secretions is obstructed and retained to form cysts.

The above four types of pathological changes of chronic cervicitis are relatively common. Depending on the actual situation of the patient, some special pathological changes such as cervical mucosa inflammation may also occur. Due to space limitations, the pathological changes of chronic cervicitis will not be introduced one by one here.