CoCoss-Trial: Concurrent Comparison of Self-Sampling Devices for HPV-Detection.

Faruk Cem Ertik,Peter Hillemanns,Johanna Kampers,Matthias Jentschke,Gerd Böhmer,Fabienne Hülse,Claudia Stolte

doi:10.3390/ijerph181910388

Faruk Cem Ertik, Peter Hillemanns + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph181910388

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Abstract

High-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) infection of the cervicovaginal tract is known to be the major cause of cervical cancer. Similar to various other countries, Germany introduced an organized combined screening including cytology and HPV testing in 2020. The participation rate was around 70% in the past. Self-testing for hr-HPV infections could be an option to increase the participation rate. Two dry vaginal self-sampling devices and a device for the self-collection of first-void urine were evaluated in combination with a PCR-based hr-HPV test regarding their clinical performance (sensitivity for high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, CIN 2+). A cervical smear taken by a clinician during colposcopy was used as reference. This open prospective multicenter trial recruited patients referred to the two participating colposcopy clinics (Hannover Medical School and IZD Hannover, Germany) with abnormal results from cervical cancer screening from 05/2020 to 11/2020. All patients received three CE-certified self-sampling devices (FLOQSwabs, COPAN, Italy; Evalyn Brush, Rovers Medical Devices, the Netherlands; Colli-Pee FV-5000, Novosanis, Wijnegem, Belgium) with instructions to read and apply at home in a pre-specified alternating order without medical assistance. HPV testing was performed after adequate preservation and DNA extraction. Histological results from colposcopy or cervical excisional surgery after self-sampling were used as the gold-standard. The data of 65 patients were analyzed. All invasive cancer cases and over 90% of the CIN 3 lesions were found to be hr-HPV positive with all three self-collection devices. All devices were considered easy to use without any difficulties following the written instructions. Hr-HPV testing of self-collected first-void urine and dry vaginal self-samples showed a high sensitivity for CIN 3+ comparable to that of a clinician-taken smear. Self-sampling was well accepted as it is convenient and easy to use.

Highlights

High-risk human papillomavirus infection of the cervicovaginal tract is known to be the major cause of cervical cancer [1]
Over 95% of the enrolled women preferred self-sampling over a clinician-taken smear for their cervical cancer screening
In addition to the established self-sampling device Evalyn Brush this study showed acceptable results for a dry vaginal self-sampling device (FLOQSwab), 78.5% and a self-sampling urine device (Colli-Pee)

Summary

Introduction

High-risk human papillomavirus (hr-HPV) infection of the cervicovaginal tract is known to be the major cause of cervical cancer [1]. The new German screening program introduced in 2020 is based on the knowledge of the superior efficacy of a cervical HPVsmear to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in comparison to cervical cytology [2,3,4]. Similar to various other countries, Germany introduced an organized combined-testing including cytology and HPV scrape. From age 20 to 35, women continue to have yearly cytological testing, whereas women older than 35 receive a combined cytological and HPV testing every three years. Screening intervals and testing methods were chosen to minimize an overestimated prevalence of HPV, especially in women

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