Human papillomavirus type 16 causes larger colposcopic lesions than other HPV types in patients with grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.

OBJECTIVE

Recent studies have shown that human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 causes more definite visual abnormalities on cervigram than other HPV types and is thus easier to evaluate colposcopically. We examined factors, including HPV-16, related to colposcopic lesions in patients with grade 3 cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 3).

METHODS

A retrospective chart review included 108 women with CIN 3 who underwent the loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP). Lesions were assessed according to the number of cervical quadrant(s) involved by colposcopy, dichotomized as 2 or fewer or 3 or more quadrants involved. The Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) test and HPV DNA chip assay (MyGene Co, Seoul, Korea) were used to detect HPV before punch biopsy or loop electrosurgical excision procedure. The type of HPV was dichotomized as HPV-16 or other (including negative cases). The HC2 viral load cutoff was 300 relative light units. Cytology was dichotomized as (1) low grade, less than, or equal to low-grade squamous lesions; or (2) high-grade, with high-grade squamous lesions or worse. Age and menopausal status were also assessed.

RESULTS

The mean (SD) age of the 108 women was 41.9 (10.7) years (range = 22-76 y). Seventy-one (65.7%) had lesions involving 2 quadrants or fewer and 37 (34.3%) had lesions involving 3 quadrants or more. Multiple logistic regression revealed that larger lesions (≥3 quadrants involved) were significantly associated with HPV-16 (p = .032, odds ratio [OR] = 2.552, 95% confidence interval = 1.085-6.000) but not with age, menopausal status, cytologic grade, or HPV HC2 viral load.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that colposcopic lesions differ according to HPV type and that HPV-16 is associated with larger lesions, facilitating lesion detection by colposcopy.