New strategies for human papillomavirus-based cervical screening

Womens Health (Lond). 2013 Sep;9(5):443-52. doi: 10.2217/whe.13.48.

Abstract

Human papillomavirus testing has been shown to be far more sensitive and robust in detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 and above (and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 3 and above) for cervical screening than approaches based on either cytology or visual inspection; however, there are a number of issues that need to be overcome if it is to substantially reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with cervical cancer at the population level. The two main issues are coverage (increasing the number of women who participate in screening) and the management of women who test positive for high-risk human papillomavirus. This article will review the potential for vaginal self-collection to improve coverage and the options for triage of high-risk human papillomavirus-positive women in high-resource and low-resource settings.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Cytological Techniques
  • DNA Methylation
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Female
  • Genes, p16
  • Genotype
  • Human papillomavirus 16 / genetics
  • Human papillomavirus 18 / genetics
  • Humans
  • Mass Screening / methods*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / complications*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / diagnosis*
  • Papillomavirus Infections / genetics
  • Risk Factors
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Time Factors
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / etiology*
  • Uterine Cervical Dysplasia / virology
  • Vaginal Smears / methods
  • Women's Health

Substances

  • DNA, Viral