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Clinical Review

Developing role of HPV in cervical cancer prevention

BMJ 2013; 347 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f4781 (Published 07 August 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f4781

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Re: Developing role of HPV in cervical cancer prevention

Very interesting and enlightening article indeed. But I differ from authors at one place where they say -

"......has led to two major developments in cervical cancer control: immunisation as a means of primary prevention and HPV testing in cervical screening, which is poised to replace cytology as the primary screening modality."

Not all cervical cancers are HPV 16 and 18 and 30% are caused by other types, for which HPV quadrivalent vaccine is uneffective. As currently no antiviral agent for cure of HPV is existent, we need to do screening for identification of HPV as said by authors.

However, we need to do cytology for detecting cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in order to exise the affected tissue (cone biopsy) as this is the only cure as there is no antiviral agent. More so, for the non 16 and 18 types of HPV for which there is no prevention and cone biopsy is the only cure.

Competing interests: No competing interests

09 August 2013
Neeru Gupta
Scientist E
Shalini Singh, KK Jani
Indian Council of Medical Research
Ansari Nagar, New Delhi-110029
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