Human Papilloma Virus, Test of acetic acid. Tracking, Cancer of the uterine cervix

Cervical cancer is still an important cause of morbidity and mortality in Brazil despite access to the Pap smear. The relationship between HPV Human Papilloma Virus and cervical cancer is undeniable; in almost 100 % of neoplastic lesions, the presence of the virus is confirmed. Objective: To verify the efficiency of the acetic acid test followed by visual inspection acetic acid (VIA), in the detection of pre-clinical signs of HPV in the cervix; comparing the prevalence of positive HPV results to the acetic acid test with the prevalence of the same virus positivity in Pap smears (PAP). Method: After collection of the cervical material for PAP, the neck was embroidered with 5 % acetic acid and visual inspection was performed after 1 minute; the colos that presented aceto-white zones were considered positive. For Pap, the results that accounted for Low Grade Intraepithelial Lesion and Grade I Intraepithelial Neoplasia were considered positive. Results: A total of 248 Pap smears plus the VIA test were evaluated and all cases with an aceto-white area in the cervix were submitted to colposcopy and biopsy. As a control, the PAP results from the same women were used. The prevalence of positivity for the VIA test was significantly higher than in the PAP results. Conclusion: The prevalence of positivity for the VIA procedure was 10 % versus 1.6 % in the Papanicolaou results. This difference was considered significant (x2 = 17.86 - P = 0.0001), but the evidence of lesions detected by the VIA test in the biopsies performed was 38.5 %.