Back to Search
Start Over
Cytologic correlates of cervical papillomavirus infection
- Source :
- International journal of gynecological pathology : official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists. 9(4)
- Publication Year :
- 1990
-
Abstract
- Summary: A fundamental question in Papanicolaou smear screening is the specificity of cytologic criteria for the recognition of genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. To address this problem, we conducted a two-phase study of routinely screened women to determine the efficiency with which cytologic findings identified the presence of HPV DNA, focusing on the criteria for identifying smears as “atypical.” In phase 1, 25 of 290 (8.6%) smears were designated atypical, but only 3 (12%) of the samples contained HPV nucleic acids. Four of five (80%) smears designated as diagnostic of HPV/cervical HPV infection were associated with HPV nucleic acids. By applying more stringent criteria for the diagnosis of atypical in phase 2, only 3 of 166 (1.8%) were identified as atypical. Of these, two (67%) contained HPV nucleic acids. The criteria that most efficiently correlated with HPV nucleic acids included prominent nuclear enlargement with either multiple nuclei or nuclear hyperchromatism. On rereview of the 19 HPV-positive and 20 control HPV-negative smears originally diagnosed as cytologically negative, the above criteria identified an additional 3 cytologically atypical/positive smears versus none (0 of 20) in the control group. This study supports the concept that cytologic abnormalities suggesting “subtle” HPV infection may be extremely difficult to distinguish from non-HPV-related changes, and that criteria used to imply “suggestive but not diagnostic for HPV infection” should be continually reevaluated. The potential role of HPV DNA analysis in Papanicolaou smear interpretation is discussed.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Pathology
medicine.medical_specialty
Papanicolaou stain
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
Cervix Uteri
Biology
Pathology and Forensic Medicine
Cytology
medicine
Humans
Sex organ
DNA Probes, HPV
Human papillomavirus
Papillomaviridae
Vaginal Smears
HPV infection
virus diseases
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Nucleic Acid Hybridization
medicine.disease
female genital diseases and pregnancy complications
Molecular hybridization
Hpv testing
Blotting, Southern
Tumor Virus Infections
Female
Viral disease
Papanicolaou Test
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 02771691
- Volume :
- 9
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- International journal of gynecological pathology : official journal of the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3214c7e920ad922d8a0a014d326b6924