Cryotherapy for HPV clearance in women with biopsy-confirmed cervical low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions

Objective: To compare the clearance rate of HPV infection among women aged older than 30 years with biopsy-confirmed cervical low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (LSIL) 1 year after cryotherapy with the spontaneous clearance rate (observation). Method: HPV DNA typing by polymerase chain reaction and reverse line blot hybridization were used to identify 14 high-risk types and 23 low-risk types. HPV DNA sequencing was also used for other types. Result: Between December 2007 and March 2009, 100 women were recruited to the Study and 60 cases had positive results on HPV testing. Twenty-nine patients were randomly allocated to the cryotherapy group and 31 to the observation group. At 1 year, 89.7% (26/29; 95% CI, 78.6-100%) of the cryotherapy group and 90.3% (28/31; 95% CI, 79.9-100%) of the observation group had negative results on HPV testing (0.6% difference; 95% CI, -15.8 to 14.6%, P=0.94). Conclusion: Cryotherapy failed to increase the clearance of prevalent HPV infections among women with LSIL, although in both arms the clearance rates were above 80%. However, in coupling with visual inspection with acetic acid as a single visit approach, its effect on prevention of HSIL and cervical cancer is still promising. Therefore, cryotherapy should not be withdrawn from such programs. (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00566579). (C) 2009 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.