Colposcopy

Colposcopy is a diagnostic procedure developed in the 1920’s that uses a special, lighted, binocular microscope, the colposcope, to inspect vaginal, vulvar, and cervical surfaces by visualizing and magnifying them.  It is performed with the woman lying on her back on the examining table, feet in stirrups, and buttocks at the lower edge of the table (the dorsal lithotomy position).  After the vulva is examined for suspicious lesions, a vaginal speculum is inserted into the vagina to allow for visualization of the vagina and cervix.

 Although, in general, colposcopy is primarily used to aid in the diagnosis of precancerous and cancerous lesions, thereby helping combat cervical cancer, CONRAD and the World Health Organization (WHO) have standardized a set of colposcopy procedures to assess the safety of vaginal products.  These procedures pay special attention to epithelial changes that may signify greater risks in acquiring sexually transmitted infections, especially HIV (STI/HIV) infections. 

The latest CONRAD/WHO manual, Update 2004, is available and on the WHO website.   The manual describes colposcopy’s assessment roles, lists appropriate steps to use when analyzing new vaginal products, and provides a standard terminology for findings, photographs, and a sample data collection form.