Hi , last week I had a colposcopy appointment . Doctor told me I had CIN3 cells . When she had a look she said they where quite bad and over a large area . She took a biopsy and I had cold coagulation treatment there and then . I’m just looking to know what the chances are of my biopsy results coming back as cervical cancer . I’m making myself sick with worry and really struggling so just looking a bit of advice, thanks
Hi Edmag24,
Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the online community. My name is Rachel, and I am one of the information nurses.
I’m sorry to see that you’re having such a difficult time at the moment. It’s completely understandable that you’re worried about your biopsy results. Waiting for any medical test result can be extremely stressful.
Unfortunately, we can’t give you specific information about what the chances are that this may be cancer, but we can certainly give you some information that we hope may help.
From your post I can see that you’ve had a colposcopy with a biopsy and have been told that you have CIN3 cells that covered a large area. It may help to remember that CIN (which stands for Cervical Intraepithelial neoplasia) isn’t cervical cancer. It means that you have changes to the cells on the outer surface layer of the cervix. It’s the most common type of cervical cell change.
Cervical cancer develops very slowly from abnormal cell changes in the deeper layers of the cervix. Treatments for CIN, such as the Cold Coagulation treatment you’ve been given are very effective at destroying abnormal cells and stopping that from happening. Statistically, the number of women with abnormal cell changes of any grade having cervical cancer is very low. The British Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology have information on this which you can read here, including the statistic that “whilst about 1 in 20 women will have a smear test result which is abnormal, only about 1 in 2000 will have cervical cancer. That means approximately 1% of women with any grade of abnormal smear will have a cancer”. Even for those cases where there is progression from untreated CINS 2/3 to cervical cancer, studies have shown the median (average) time it takes to develop is over 23 years.
Hopefully this information goes some way to answer your question, but of course this is very general and not based on your specific circumstances. Your doctor is always the best person to talk to about your own case.
I hope you don’t have to wait much longer for your biopsy results. Usually they’re available within 2-3 weeks. In the meantime, please remember that there is support available. Talking things through with friends and family can help. You may also like to contact our nurses by phone or you can chat with us online. Sometimes it helps to have a two-way conversation. You can also get information and support from Jo’s Trust including their online forum, and helpline.
I hope this helps
Best wishes Rachel
Cancer Information Nurse Specialist
Ref RC/LE
