Objectives: Conservative management of women with microinvasive cervical cancer (International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians stage IA) has led to prolonged and intensive cytological follow-up. We conducted a retrospective study to assess human papillomavirus status and genotypes at diagnosis and to find out whether there is an association between the persistence of high-risk human papillomavirus during follow-up and the detection of recurrent disease.
Study design: Paraffin-embedded cervical biopsies in the pathology archives were identified from women with an initial large loop excision of the transformation zone or cone specimen diagnostic of microinvasive disease since 1991.
Results: We identified 45 women with a diagnosis of microinvasive cervical cancer. Human papillomavirus was detected in 87% of the initial diagnostic specimens. Human papillomavirus testing showed a negative predictive value of 100% for recurrent disease with a sensitivity of 100%.
Conclusion: Human papillomavirus testing has an important role in the follow-up of women treated conservatively for stage IA cervical cancer.