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.

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
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