ThinPrep cytology combined with HPV detection in the diagnosis of cervical lesions in 1622 patients

Abstract

The timely detection of precancerous lesions and early intervention can greatly reduce cervical cancer occurrence. The current study aimed to assess the diagnostic value and accuracy of different methods of cervical lesion screening. A total of 1622 females who visited the Outpatient Department of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region People’s Hospital between January and December 2018 were consecutively enrolled. All participants underwent separate high-risk human papilloma virus (HR-HPV) DNA detection, ThinPrep cytology testing (TCT) and colposcopic biopsy. Their medical records were retrospectively analyzed. While considering biopsy outcomes as the gold standard, the diagnostic values of TCT, HR-HPV testing, and TCT+HR-HPV testing for cervical cancer screening were compared. The sensitivity, specificity and Youden index of each method were calculated. Among the different methods, TCT+HR-HPV testing had the highest sensitivity (89.8%), followed by TCT (79.9%) and HR-HPV testing (49.2%). The combined method also had the highest Youden value, and its screening outcomes exhibited the highest consistency with those of biopsy. In addition, the combined method had the largest area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, which was 0.673 (0.647, 0.699), compared with any other screening method. Compared with TCT or HR-HPV testing alone, TCT+HR-HPV testing serves as a better screening method for cervical cancer and precancerous lesions.