Background: The presence of human papillomavirus (HPV), the HPV type and viral load in early stage cervical carcinoma were investigated in order to elucidate whether any of these factors were important for clinical outcome.
Patients and methods: Twelve patients who were disease-free 5 years after diagnosis were matched and compared with 12 patients who died within 2 years. The presence of HPV, HPV type and viral load in their tumours was examined by PCR.
Results: The distribution and load of HPV was similar in the 2 patient groups. HPV-16 was, however, significantly more common in tumours of the surviving patients than in those of patients who died (88.9% and 18.2%, respectively, p = 0.0152).
Conclusion: HPV-16 was significantly more common in early stage carcinomas of patients surviving more than 5 years in comparison to early stage carcinomas of patients with a poor prognosis.