[The detection of papillomavirus by in situ hybridization. Clinico-pathological and virological correlation in patients with squamous intraepithelial lesions of the uterine cervix].
BACKGROUND: Clinical usefulness of human papillomavirus (HPV) detection by molecular techniques is not well established. The aim of the study is to determine, by in situ hybridization, HPV DNA in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), assessing the prevalence rate, the association with epidemiologic factors and the correlation with classic diagnostic procedures (cytology, colposcopy and histology). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Among 138 patients diagnosed with CIN, HPV was determined in 75 treated by excisional procedures. All cases underwent pap-smear, colposcopy, and colposcopically directed biopsy. RESULTS: Histologic diagnosis was as follows: 1 cervical condyloma (1.3%); 31 CIN-I (41.3%); 23 CIN II (30.7%), and 20 CIN-III (26.7%). HPV was detected in 31 cases (41.3%), being more frequent in higher histologic grades (35.5%) CIN-I, 43.5% CIN-II and 45% CIN-III). No association between cytologic, colposcopic and histologic diagnoses and HPV positivity was observed. HPV detection in patients with false negative cytologies was lower than in positive ones (p = 0.021). Smoking was the only epidemiologic factor significantly associated to HPV presence (chi 2 for trend = 4.022; p = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical usefulness of in situ hybridization for HPV detection remains controversial because of its low sensitivity, and the scarce relationship between its results and those obtained by cytology, colposcopy and histology. Smoking is associated with a higher detection rate of HPV in patients with squamous intraepithelial lesions of the uterine cervix.