Colposcopic histopathology results of patients over 50: Is HPV genotyping useful?

Abstract

To determine the rate of high-grade cervical intraepithelial lesion and cancer (HSIL+) diagnosis as a result of colposcopic histopathology in patients aged ≥50 years and to investigate the role of cytology, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) test positivity and HPV genotyping in predicting HSIL+. The study included 1102 patients aged ≥50 as study group and 2723 patients aged <50 as control group who were admitted to our colposcopy unit between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2019 and underwent colposcopy for the first time. The patients with HSIL+ were compared as Cytology group and HPV group in the study group. To evaluate the impact of genotyping HPV positive group was compared in terms of HSIL+ results in subgroups with HPV16/18 and HPV other types positivity. Patients diagnosed with cancer in the same period were compared in terms of age, stage and histology as screening cancer group and symptomatic cancer groups. The rate of cervical cancer in the study group was 2.2% and 1.2 % in the control group. In patients diagnosed with cancer, Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage was ≥ stage IB2 in 57.4% of cases in the symptomatic cancer group and in 18.9% of cases in the screening cancer group. The HPV 16/18 positivity rate in HSIL+ patients were 75.0% and 79.5% in the study and control group, respectively. Cervical cancer rates were found to be high in the group aged ≥ 50 years. HPV genotyping is as effective in patients ≥50 years of age as in those aged < 50 years. Patients diagnosed as a result of screening are caught in the early stages and therefore with increased general life expectancy, the age at which screening is discontinued should be re-evaluated.