Evaluation on detection rate and follow-up quality of different cervical cancer screening methods

  Objective  To assess the application effect of ThinPrep cytology test (TCT) and human papillomavirus (HPV)-DNA detection in cervical cancer screening.

  Methods  A total of 39 974 women aged 35 – 64 years were screened for cervical cancer with TCT in two counties and another 40 087 women of same ages with HPV test in four counties in Guangdong province. Then the screening efficiency of the two methods were evaluated and compared using detection rate of cervical cancer and precancerous lesion, follow-up rate for colposcopy, histopathological examination, and cytologic examination.

  Results  The overall detection rate of cervical cancer and precancerous lesion was 843.05/100 000 (45.03/100 000 for cervical cancer and 798.02/100 000 for precancerous lesion) for TCT and higher than that (182.10/100 000) of HPV test (19.96/100 000 for cervical cancer and 162.15/100 000 for precancerous lesion). For the screening with HPV test, the follow-up rate of cytologic examination and colposcopy were only 55.04% and 58.46%, and both the rate were at a relative low level.

  Conclusion  The detection rate and screening quality of TCT are far higher than those of HPV test. The results suggest that follow-up for cytologic examination and colposcopy should be enhanced among the women positive to HPV test to increase the detection rate of cervical cancer and precancerous lesion in the women.