Multicentric human papillomavirus infections of the female genital tract: correlation of viral types with abnormal mitotic figures, colposcopic presentation, and location.

Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was identified by Southern blot hybridization in 21 of 24 patients with multicentric anogenital lesions and in 46 of 61 individual lesions. Type 6/11 was present in nine patients, type 16 in one, an undetermined type in one, and more than one type in ten patients. Mixed types were present in eight of 46 virus-positive individual lesions. Abnormal mitotic figures were found in 16, 87, and 75% of lesions associated with type 6/11, type 16, and mixed types, respectively. Colposcopic presentation or location of lesions was not predictive of viral types. The relatively high rate of mixed human papillomavirus types in multicentric lesions and in single lesions, and the lack of absolute correlation between viral types and abnormal mitotic figures, suggest that lesions should be removed to prevent viral transmission and possible progression to carcinoma.