The study population consisted of 30 cervical cancer patients stage I.a-II.b. (FIGO) stages operated on according to the Wertheim technique. A parallel histological evaluation and HPV status determination were carried out on biopsies from the primary tumors and on the regional lymph nodes. A general primer mediated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed at first and the samples not amplified were examined by type-specific primers. All except one primary tumors contained DNA-sequences characteristic for high risk HPV-types. The lymph nodes of these HPV-positive patients proved to be also HPV-positive with a frequency of 25/30 (83%). The frequency of the HPV-positivity was higher (100%) in the group of patients with HPV-18 positive status, than in the HPV-16 positive group. Two thirds of the evaluated regional lymph nodes were HPV-positive in the HPV-16 group of patients. The same HPV-types were harboured by the primary tumors and by the regional lymph nodes both in the HPV-16 positive and HPV-18 positive groups of patients. In the HPV-16-positive group of patients metastatic lymph nodes occurred with a frequency of 3/16, while the frequency of HPV-16 positivity in the same nodes was 11/15. In the group of patients with HPV-18 positivity the difference was even greater, 1/12 v. 12/12. Early recurrences were detected in a relation of 3 to 1 in the group of patients with histologically tumor-free and metastatic-positive lymph node status. At the same time all of the lymph nodes in this group with early recurrency (4/4) contained DNA-sequences characteristic for the HPV-18 type. These findings raise the hypothesis that the HPV-specific nucleic acids detected in the lymph nodes can be taken as sensitive indicators of metastases. The follow-up results support these hypothesis as patients with HPV-18 positive lymph node status showed early recurrencies and short survival that is poor prognosis not corresponding to the early stage of cervical cancer with histologically negative lymph node status.