Background Treatment effectiveness and clinical outcome of patients with cervical carcinoma FIGO stage IA1 and IA2 are analyzed in three different time period at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Rijeka, Croatia. Methods Retrospective analysis of the hospital chart of all cervical cancer patients between 1991 and 2005 was conducted with five-year follow up. Results Data on cervical cancer distribution by stage and five-year survival are presented. Separately analyzed age, histology type and treatment modalities in stage FIGO IA1 and IA2 during three consecutive five-year periods are presented. Conclusions Conservative surgical approach – conization alone in stage IA1 of the squamous cell carcinoma is reasonable and safe treatment option for reproductive active women. During observed periods conization became the most used surgical technique applied in almost two third of FIGO IA1 cervical cancer patients. Lymph vascular space invasion in stage IA1 lead to adjunct pelvic lymphadenectomy with unclear clinical benefit. In cervical cancer patients stage IA2 simple hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy could be accepted as a standard treatment. In these patients further studies are recommended to evaluate other less radical surgical techniques – simple and radical trachelectomy with or without pelvic lymphadenectomy. Radical hysterectomy in both stages IA1 and IA2, based on personal experience and literature data represents a surgical overtreatment and should be abandoned.