Overview and aims:

Colposcopy is considered the “gold standard” technique for the evaluation of women with abnormal cervical cancer screening tests or with a clinically suspicious cervix. The aim of this study was to evaluate the applicability of four quality indicators in colposcopy, as defined by the European Federation of Colposcopy (EFC), in a Portuguese colposcopy unit.

Study design:

Descriptive retrospective study.

Methods and Population:

We included all patients who had been submitted to excision of the cervical transformation zone in a Colposcopy unit of a tertiary Portuguese hospital, from January to December 2020.

Results:

A total of 110 excisions of the cervical transformation zone were performed. We found that in all cases (100%) the types of transformation zones were described and colposcopy was performed before treatment in all. In 78.2% of cases a CIN2+ lesion was described in biopsy or in the excision specimen. The resection margins were free at 90.9%.

Conclusions:

With this work we intend to highlight the possibility of applying the EFC criteria as a tool for the internal and external assessment of colposcopy units in Portugal.

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