Value of human papillomavirus typing for detection of anal cytological abnormalities

• Published in: Indian journal of sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS 2013-07, Vol.34 (2), p.102
• Main Authors: Maia, Livia, Marinho, Larissa, Barbosa, Tânia, Velasco, Lara, Costa, Patrícia, Carneiro, Fabiana, Oliveira, Paulo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2589-0557; 2589-0565
• DOI: 10.4103/0253-7184.120540

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate anal cytology and human papillomavirus (HPV) typing in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Materials and Methods: Anal samples were collected from 61 patients (44 men and 17 women) and analyzed by PapilloCheck test and conventional cytology. Results: Of all anal samples, 37.7% had cytological abnormalities, 47.54% were negative and 14.75% were unsatisfactory. High-risk HPV, multiple high-risk HPV and HPV 16 infection was detected in 91.13%, 78.26% and 47.82% of the samples with cytological abnormalities and in 47.54%, 6.89% and 3.44% of the negative samples, respectively. High-risk HPV infection was significantly more frequent in anal samples with cytological abnormalities than in negative samples (P = 0.0005, Fisher's test), particularly multiple high-risk HPV infection (P < 0.0001) and HPV 16 infection (P = 0.0002). Conclusions: High-risk HPV, multiple high-risk HPV and HPV 16 infections are significantly associated with anal cytological abnormalities. Furthermore, the frequency of HPV infection in anal cytological samples suggests that high-risk HPV detection has high sensitivity, but low specificity for detection of anal cytological abnormalities, but multiple high-risk HPV typing and HPV 16 typing have a lower sensitivity and high specificity. Results suggest that HPV typing may be useful as an adjunct to cytology to screen patients for high-resolution anoscopy and biopsy.