Diagnostic sensitivity for invasive cervical carcinoma of high risk HPV tests performed on SurePath liquid-based pap specimens

Keith V NanceDepartment of Cytology, Rex Hospital, Raleigh, and Department of Pathology, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USARecently I communicated with the Editor regarding Drs Naryshkin and Austins’ article entitled "Limitations of widely used high-risk human papillomavirus laboratory-developed testing in cervical carcinoma screening."1,2 As noted previously, this article is based on a single case report of squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix diagnosed in a patient who had abnormal Pap results but had negative Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2)(Qiagen NV, Hilden, Germany) high risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing from SurePath (Becton-Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA) samples. The authors concluded that such testing should not be done using this collection medium. Interestingly, they also mentioned a 10% false negative rate for similar testing performed on FDA-approved Preservcyt media on three of 31 invasive cervical carcinoma patients at Dr Austin’s own laboratory.View original paper by Naryshkin and Austin