Human papillomavirus dna and liquid-based cervical cytology cotesting in screening and follow-up patient groups

Objective To compare the use of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and cervical cytology cotesting in screening and follow-up of patients with previous cervical abnormalities and to assess the significance of a positive HPV DNA test result in rescreening of cytologically normal cases. Study Design Cellular samples collected in liquid-based fixative were used for both cervical cytology and HPV DNA testing. The cervical cytology slides were manually screened by cytotechnologists followed by rapid rescreening by pathologists. The HPV DNA tests were performed using hybrid capture test kits. Statistical analyses of cervical cytology results and HPV DNA tests for high- and low-risk HPV from both patient groups were carried out. Results The prevalence of HPV DNA\u96positive cases was higher in younger patients. There was a poor correlation between cervical cytology results and HPV DNA tests for the screening group (k=3D0.23), but a fair to good correlation was obtained for the follow-up group (k=3D0.51). The false negative fraction of cytology negative/HPV DNA positive cases (0.1317), as compared with cytology negative/HPV DNA negative cases (0.0056), was statistically significant (p=3D0.000001). Conclusion The prevalence of HPV DNA decreased with increasing age in both the screening and follow-up patient groups. Virus clearance was delayed in the follow-up group as compared with the screening group. There was a poor correlation between cervical cytology and HPV DNA tests in the screening group but a fair to good correlation in the follow-up patient group. Cotesting of HPV DNA and cervical cytology increases the sensitivity and decreases the false negative fraction, suggesting that cotesting could be used to increase the interval of screening