Human papillomavirus DNA detection in women with normal and abnormal cervical Pap cytology

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women worldwide and nearly all cases are human papillomavirus (HPV) related. Pap cytology screening has been very successful in lowering cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the US. With the increasing use of HPV DNA tests as a reflex test for ASC-US and co-testing of women over 30 for primary screening, there have been many reports of the HPV positive rates and clinical follow-up findings for women with various abnormal Pap diagnoses. This review describes the reported HPV detection rates for HSIL, LSIL, ASC-US, ASC-H, AGC, and negative Pap cytology and highlights the effect of HPV positivity on the follow-up detection of cervical lesions.