A high prevalence of human papillomavirus DNA in recurrent nasal papillomas

The prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in nasal papillomas was examined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot hybridisation. HPV 6 DNA in one case, HPV 57 DNA in one case and HPV 16 DNA in three cases were detected amongst 12 cases of nasal papillomas that comprised three cases of fungiform exophytic papillomas and nine cases of inverted papillomas. Five cases (two exophytic and three inverted papillomas) were recurrent and four (80.0%) of these were HPV DNA-positive. The remaining seven cases were non-recurrent and only one (14.3%) was HPV DNA-positive. This difference in HPV DNA detection rates between recurrent and non-recurrent nasal papillomas was statistically significant.