Correlation of the Papanicolaou smear and human papillomavirus type in women with biopsy-proven cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions.

The authors correlated Papanicolaou smear diagnoses with the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) as determined by in situ hybridization in concurrent biopsy-proven cervical squamous intraepithelial lesions (SILs) in 132 women. Infection by HPV 6 or 11 was associated with a simultaneous normal Papanicolaou smear in 4 of 29 (14%) cases. This result was significantly greater (P less than 0.05) than that found in cases of infection by an oncogenic HPV type (types 16, 31, 33, 35, and others), in which the rate of a concurrent normal Papanicolaou smear was 5 of 88 (5%). Infection by one of these oncogenic types was associated with a Papanicolaou smear diagnostic of SIL in 55 of 88 (63%) cases, whereas infection by HPV 6 or 11 was associated with a Papanicolaou smear diagnostic of SIL significantly (P less than 0.05) less frequently (6 of 29, 18%). It is concluded that, for women with SILs, the likelihood of a Papanicolaou smear diagnostic of the lesion is greater for women with HPV types of known oncogenic potential.