Utilization of self-sampling kits for HPV testing in cervical cancer screening - pilot study

Objective: To get initial experience with alternative sampling (self-sampling) for HPV testing as the means of cervical cancer screening program. Design: Original work. Setting: Institute of Molecular and Translational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University in Olomouc. Methods: Based on expression of interest, 215 self-sampling kits were posted to women. Evalyn (R) r Brush Vaginal swabs obtained by self-sampling were analyzed for the presence of HPV infection by Cobas 4800 HPV (Roche) followed by genotyping using PapilloCheck (R) HPV-Screening (Greiner Bio-One). Sixty women randomly chosen from our sample were sent a questionnaire focused on their experience with self-sampling. Results: One hundred seventy-four of 215 (81%) distributed self-sampling devices have been delivered to analysis. All cervicovaginal swabs were sampled correctly and it was possible to analyze them by Cobas 4800 HPV test. Similarly, 98% (171/174) samples were analyzable by PapilloCheck (R) HPV-Screening. One hundred twenty-five (72%) of 174 tested samples were HPV negative. Low risk HPV infection was detected only in 7 samples (4%), and high risk HPV (hrHPV) infection was present in 42 samples (24%). The most frequently detected hrHPV genotypes were HPV16 (11/42; 26%) and HPV53 (6/42; 14%). HrHPV co-infection was detected in 10 cases, in 5 of them lrHPV infection was find also. Of the 60 questionnaires, 48 (80%) were returned. From this group, 47 (98%) women rated their experience with self-sampling device as good to excellent. User manual of self-sampling device was considered good to excellent by all women (100%). All women also rated the convenience of self-sampling device using as good to excellent. As expected, most of the women (n = 42 [88%]) preferred self-sampling to physician sampling. Conclusion: Cervicovaginal self-sampling leads to valid results of HPV screening using two molecular genetics methods and was accepted by Czech women very well. The self-sampling as an opportunity to participate in cervical cancer screening could increase the attendance of the screening program and would help to reduce the incidence and mortality for this disease in the Czech population.