Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of self-collected vaginal samples for high-risk HPV detection by the HPV oligonucleotide microarray method (HPVDNAChip).
Methods: One hundred and eighteen patients with abnormal Pap smears were included. Self-collected vaginal and clinician-collected cervical samples for HPV testing were obtained. The result of the HPV DNA test was compared with the histopathological diagnosis or colposcopic finding.
Results: Of the 118 patients, 42 (35.6%) had >or= cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) III lesions. Using the HPVDNAChip, high-risk types of HPV were detected in 38 of these 42 patients (90.5%) with the self-collected vaginal samples and in 37 of 42 (88.1%) with the clinician-collected cervical samples. The agreement of HPVDNAchip results between self- and clinician-collected samples was very good (kappa = 0.81) with a 93.2% concordance rate. Multiple HPV infections were found in 17 of 88 (19.3%) HPV-positive clinician-collected cervical samples. The rate of multiple HPV infection tended to decrease as the degree of pathologic classification increased.
Conclusion: Using the HPVDNAchip to assay for HPV infection, results from self-collected vaginal samples were compatible with those from clinician-collected cervical samples.