RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Self-collection of secretion samples for HPV testing is a feasible alternative method for women who would decline to participate in population based cervical cancer programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity and specificity of self-sampling for HPV in determining high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) using the pad, and we also wished to compare the results from samples collected by women themselves and those results from samples collected by physicians. METHODS: Fifty patients voluntarily participated in the sensitivity and specificity study at the university hospitals and 290 volunteers participated in the agreement study at local clinics. DNA was extracted and amplified using HPV L1 consensus primers for the direct sequencing of the pad samples. RESULTS: For the detection of HSIL, self-collected pad sampling showed good sensitivity (75.0%) and excellent specificity (100%). Two hundreds eighty-six samples from the pads and concurrent physicians?samples showed the agreement at 98.6% with the Kappa, 0.9622 (p=0.0000). CONCLUSIONS: A self-sampling method using the pad for the detection of HPV DNA is suggested to be an efficient method to access many women for screening easily, rapidly and conveniently. Testing the pad method? utility for a country- or large area-based mass screening study will be necessary in the future.