HPV type 16 or 18 in young women predicts risk of cervical cancer

The human papilloma virus (HPV) can cause cervical cancer. According to new guidelines in Sweden, women over thirty therefore undergo initial screening for the virus rather than a smear test. But younger women also have a much higher risk of pre-cancerous lesions if they carry HPV 16 or 18, a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the scientific journal Cancer shows.

Four out of five women of fertile age are infected at some time in their lives with HPV. Most of these infections clear on their own, but for some five per cent of the women, the infection turns chronic. Chronic HPV infection can cause pre-cancerous lesions and cancer of the cervix. HPV types 16 and 18 cause some 70 per cent of all cases of cervical cancer and the majority of high-grade pre-cancerous lesions. There are also several other high-risk HPV types that can cause pre-cancerous lesions and cervical cancer.

So that doctors can catch pre-cancerous lesions in time, women in Sweden between the ages of 23 and 64 are screened using ectocervical smear tests. If the smear test is abnormal, the sample is tested for HPV. According to new guidelines, screening from the age of 32 is to take the form, in the first instance, of an HPV test instead. If the woman tests HPV positive, a cell sample is then taken that, if aberrant, occasions further gynaecological investigation. However, in the event of a normal cell test but a positive HPV test, the woman is invited only routinely to screening after three to seven years, depending on age.

Source: ki.se

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter