Clinical Application of Folate Receptor-Mediated Staining Solution Detection in Cervical Cancer Screening.

OBJECTIVE

Cervical cancer is the fourth most deadly women's cancer worldwide, and regular screening is essential to lower mortality rates. The folate receptor-mediated staining solution detection (FRD) has been suggested to be a rapid and cost-effective screening method. We aim to evaluate the validity of FRD testing in cervical cancer screening.

METHODS

A total of 207 participants were enrolled in the study. The validity of screening by FRD, cytology screening, and a HPV test were compared using histopathology as the gold standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, Kappa value, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, percent agreement, and positive detection rates were compared among the three screening methods.

RESULTS

83(40.1%) participants were diagnosed as NILM, 50(24.15%) were diagnosed as CIN1, and 74(35.74%) were diagnosed as CIN2+. For CIN2+, the detection rates for the FRD, cytology screening, and HPV were 75.68%, 82.09% and 93.22%, respectively. For CIN2+, the sensitivity of HPV testing (93.22%) was significantly higher than that of cytology screening (82.09%) and FRD (75.68%), while the specificity of FRD (63.91%) was higher than that of cytology screening (35.34%) and HPV test (7.56%). The percent agreement and Kappa value of FRD were significantly higher than those of the cytology screening and HPV test. In HPV-HC2+ and ASCUS patients, FRD was associated with a lower false positive rate compared to other screening methods.

CONCLUSION

Our study indicates that FRD has a good sensitivity and high specificity in cervical cancer screening, and could be a rapid, valid and cost-effective screening test.