Authors' objectives:

The primary objective of this technical brief was to examine the test performance of commercially available human papillomavirus testing methods. The focus of the review was on testing methods which could be implemented within the current cervical screening programme, and so commercial tests which are accessible and relevant for high throughput were included. The most likely utilisation of HPV testing within a cervical screening programme will be as a follow-up or adjunct test for women with abnormal or equivocal smear results. To this end, included studies were those which reported the test performance of more than one HPV test in women with an initial abnormal or equivocal smear result.

Authors' recommendations: Overall, there was little evidence of any consistent differences in test performance between the compared HPV testing methods. While Amplicor, HPV DNA Chip and PreTect Proofer all show potential as reliable methods of HPV testing, none of these have been researched to the same degree as HC2 and other PCR assays. There is a need for large-scale well-controlled studies investigating the performance of these tests to obtain more precise estimates of their test performance relative to other HPV testing methods. HC2 and PCR-based tests performed similarly when compared with each other within studies, but test estimates varied between studies and further large scale investigations would enable more precise test estimates to be calculated. The decision to implement either one of these tests will depend on more than test performance alone, and it may be that variances in cost, ease of administration and adaptability to high-volume processing will determine the most suitable test for the New Zealand Cervical Screening Programme.

Authors' methods: Review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://nzhta.chmeds.ac.nz/publications.htm

Year Published: 2007

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: New Zealand

Organisation Name: New Zealand Health Technology Assessment

Contact Address: Department of Public Health and General Practice, Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, P.O. Box 4345, Christchurch, New Zealand. Tel: +64 3 364 1145; Fax: +64 3 364 1152;

Contact Name: nzhta@chmeds.ac.nz

Contact Email: nzhta@chmeds.ac.nz

Copyright: New Zealand Health Technology Assessment (NZHTA)