Focused ultrasound for high-risk human papillomavirus infection-related low-grade cervical lesions: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

Objectives To assess the efficacy and safety of focused ultrasound (FU) for high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection-related cervical low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL). Methods Of 185 patients who met the inclusion criteria for this prospective study from October 2020 to November 2021, 95 received FU and 90 were followed up only. At the six-month follow-up, the HR-HPV clearance and LSIL regression rates of the groups were compared and factors affecting HR-HPV clearance were analyzed. The safety and side effects of FU were evaluated. Results No significant difference was found in the baseline clinical data between the two groups (p > 0.05). At the six-month follow-up, the HR-HPV clearance rates were 75.6% in the FU group and 25.6% in the observation group (p = 0.000). The LSIL regression rates were 89.5% in the FU group and 56.4% in the observation group (p = 0.000). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the HR-HPV clearance rate in the FU group was 9.03 times higher than that in the observation group (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.75–21.73, p = 0.000), and the clearance rate of single-type HR-HPV infections was 5.28 times higher than that of multi-type infections (95% CI, 1.83–15.23, p = 0.002). The mean intraoperative bleeding was 1.8 ± 0.6 (1–3) mL; the mean intraoperative pain score was 2.6 ± 1.0 (1–6). Conclusions For patients with HR-HPV infection-related histological LSIL, FU can eliminate HR-HPV infection and cause lesions to regress in a short time, with few adverse effects and good tolerance.