PAIN AND CRAMPING ASSOCIATED WITH CRYOSURGERY

Background. Many different cryosurgery methods have been described for the treatment of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). The purpos e of this study was to evaluate the pain and cramping perceived by pat ients undergoing four specific cryosurgical methods. Methods. Seventy women consented to the prospective trial and were assigned to one of f our cryosurgery techniques: a 2-minute double freeze, a 3-minute doubl e freeze, a 5-minute single freeze, and a 5-minute double freeze. Imme diately following the procedure, a trained interviewer recorded each w oman'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 th e analysis. Results. The median pain scores for the 2-minute double fr eeze, 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 o f 0 to 10. The median cramping scores for the procedures were 0, 0, 0, and 7, respectively. The median pain and cramping scores were signifi cantly 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 free ze caused the most pain and cramping of all tshe cryosurgery methods t ested. Pretreatment with an NSAID did not lessen the cramping or pain preceived during the 5-minute double freeze.