The use of the immunocytochemical markers in the assessment of risk for cervical precancer.

The dual p16/Ki67 immunocytochemical coloration, which combines a high sensitivity with high specificity, is the solution which has been developed lately for the optimization of the identification of the precancer of the cervix. The test is a double immunocytochemical marking simultaneously in the same cell for p16 (marker of the transforming infection) and Ki67 (marker for proliferation). Through this immunocytochemical test, the optimization is taken into consideration for the surveillance or sorting of the young female patients with the ASC-US cytological results with high risk of HPV or LCIL, thus avoiding the colposcopies and the eventual invasive gestures in nulliparous women, reducing the anxiety of the female patients related to the colposcopy indication and finally the reduction of the diagnosis costs. At a worldwide level, each year, more than 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed and the average rate of survival at 5 years of patients is only 50%, and thus the introduction of the CINtec PLUS test in the screening programs for cervical cancer may be considered an innovative strategy in the prevention of the cervical cancer and may bring a real benefit to the clinicians and patients through the fact that it helps in identifying the basic illness, establishing that category which implies additional procedures (colposcopy). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]