Cervical Cancer: Sensitivity and Specificity

Introduction: Screening tests center on finding atypical cells or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (up to squamous carcinoma in situ). The tests listed here are generally for finding atypia and/or CIN. The pathogenesis of cervical cancer is always or almost always from HPV infection.

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The sensitivity and specificity of findings for Cervical Cancer are listed below. See the left navigation bar to change the display.

Sensitive and Specific Findings

Finding	Sensitivity	Specificity	Comments, Study
HPV DNA PCR	94.6%	94.1%	Study: N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 18;357(16):1579-88. PMID: 17942871
Pap Smear Plus HPV PCR	100%	92.5%	Study: N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 18;357(16):1579-88. PMID: 17942871

Specific Findings

Finding	Sensitivity	Specificity	Comments, Study
ThinPrep Pap Smear	76%	86%	Note that different studies disagree on whether ThinPrep is truly better than conventional Pap smears. Study: Gynecol Oncol. 2003 Jul;90(1):137-44. PMID 12821354
Traditional Pap Smear	30%	86%	Sensitivity 30-87%, spec 86-100% depending on study. In (N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 18;357(16):1579-88. PMID: 17942871) the sensitivity was 55.4% with specificity of 92.5%. Study: Ann Intern Med 2000 May 16;132(10):810-9. PMID 10819705