Efficiency of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Testing in Cervical Cancer Screening and Vaccination: A Review

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of female mortality in the world. However, since it has a long premalignant stage, cervical cancers can be prevented by early diagnosis or by regular screening. Over the years, conventional cytology has served as an excellent tool for diagnosis and early detection of cervical dysplastic lesions. However, it had a few drawbacks, which were overcome by the introduction of liquid-based cytology (LBC). LBC provided a relatively better efficiency. However, LBC necessitates high-end laboratory infrastructure, which is unavailable in resource-poor settings. Human papillomavirus (HPV) being the main etiology for causing cervical cancer, theoretically, cervical cancer can be prevented if vaccination against HPV is provided at an early age. Also, HPV testing, in contrast to cytology, does not depend on morphology for interpretation and is only based on the identification of HPV DNA or other viral markers. HPV detection thus provided less room for false positivity than cytology. In this review, the author will focus on the importance of HPV testing as a potential primary cervical cancer screening modality. Also, this review will discuss the advent of HPV vaccination with its role in cervical cancer prevention.