Triage of women with ASC-US/LSIL cytology: The added value of implementation of an HPV-test

Abstract

This study has an historical prospective design by including in retrospect all screening- and follow-up tests for women aged 25 to 69 years old kept by the Department of Clinical Pathology, University Hospital of Northern Norway, Tromsø. All women with a first ASC-US/LSIL smear in 1996-98 and 2006-08 were identified and compared on outcomes such as proportion of cases resolved within 35 months of index smear and incidence of CIN2+. The Department of Clinical pathology has used an mRNA test (NorChip PreTect HPV-Proofer) since the autumn of 2005 in secondary cervical cancer screening. In triage of women with ASC-US/LSIL, the HPV mRNA test significantly reduced the time from the first abnormal cytology until biopsy and had predictive values comparable with those of repeat cytology.