HPV DNA Testing Detects Lesions Earlier, Allowing Screening Interval To Be Longer

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Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Clinical Trials / Drug Trials;  Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 04 Oct 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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The DNA testing of HPV (human papillomavirus) identifies lesions which can lead to cervical cancer earlier than conventional cytological techniques do. This earlier identification may make it such that the screening interval be longer, according to an article published in The Lancet.

Professor Chris Meijer, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Holland, and team looked at 17,155 women who had been taking part in the regular screening program in The Netherlands; they were aged 29-56 years. 8,575 of them underwent HPV DNA testing to identify the high-risk types of HPV which cause cervical cancer. The Other 8,580 received conventional cytological testing. After a period of five years, both groups underwent cytological testing as well as DNA testing.

The researchers already know that genetic HPV testing detects more CIN lesions. What they did not know, and wanted to find out, was whether these lesions were non-regressive cancer precursors. They found that CIN3+ lesions (cervical cancer and its most serious precursor lesions) were identified in 68 women who underwent HPV DNA testing, compared to 40 in the cytological testing group. After five years, 24 women were detected with CIN3+ lesions in the HPV DNA group, versus 56 in the cytological testing group.

Even though the number of women with CIN3+ lesions detected during the two rounds of tests did not differ between the two groups, those in the HPV DNA testing group had their lesions detected earlier, the authors explained.

"Our results show that implementation of HPV DNA testing in cervical screening leads to earlier detection of clinically relevant cervical lesions. On the basis of this data, we suggest that the current screening interval of five years could be extended by at least one year. The extension will be advantageous to women because of a reduction in the lifetime number of screening tests and referrals," the authors wrote.

"A full cost-effectiveness analysis will help to determine whether primary HPV testing alone is the preferred strategy for primary cervical screening," they concluded.

http://www.thelancet.com

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
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