Objectives: After surgical management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) lesions, HPV
DNA or mRNA tests may provide better validity parameters than cytology smears alone.
Methods: 266 women with a suspicious colposcopy finding during follow-up examinations after
surgical treatment of CIN lesions were included into this study. Routine cytology
and HPV genotyping smears were obtained. Digene Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) HR-HPV DNA,
APTIMA HPV assays and cervical biopsies of suspect areas were performed. Validity
parameters including positive and negative predictive values (PPV, NPV) were calculated
using the cervical biopsy result as the gold standard.
Results: The median follow-up time was 25 months and the post-treatment recurrence rate of
CIN II or III was 17.3%. For CIN II recurrences, NPV/PPV for HC2 was 0.93/0.44, for
APTIMA 0.94/0.58 and for cytology 0.91/0.62 For CIN III recurrences, NPV/PPV for HC2
was 0.98/0.18, for APTIMA 0.98/0.25 and for cytology 0.99/0.36. Combined testing improved
all NPVs and PPVs.
Discussion: In this study, HC2, APTIMA, and cytology smears showed excellent NPVs and moderate
PPVs in the follow-up of CIN patients. The combination of HPV test with cytology improved
all validity parameters.