The Modern Cytology Laboratory

Influence of Prior Knowledge of Human Papillomavirus Status on the Performance of Cytology Screening

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of prior knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV) status in cervical cytopathology readings.

METHODS

Participants comprised 2,376 women who underwent parallel cytology and HPV-DNA testing. Smears were read twice by the same team, first with previous knowledge of HPV-DNA status.

RESULTS

Overall, 239 (10.2%) smears had their cytology classification altered by the HPV-informed review. Cytology readings with prior knowledge of the HPV status revealed 10.5% of abnormal smears (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance or higher), while without prior knowledge, this rate dropped to 7.6%. When HPV status was informed, a significant increase in all categories of altered smears was observed. Cytology with prior knowledge of HPV status detected more cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or higher (CIN 2+) compared with blinded: 86.7% vs 60.0%.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data indicate that cytology interpreted with prior knowledge of the HPV status provides higher sensitivity for CIN 2+ lesions while marginally reducing the overall specificity compared with HPV status blinded cytology.