High Recurrence Rate of Cervical Dysplasia and Persistence of HPV infection in HIV-1-infected Women

Aim: a) evaluation of the recurrence of cervical dysplasia after surgical treatment and of the rate of HPV persistence of HIV-infected women and b) the influence of antiretroviral therapy on the recurrence. Patients and Methods: In a retrospective analysis, the follow-up data of HIV-positive women visiting our outpatient clinic regarding results of cervical cytology, cervical HPV detection, cervical biopsy, patient history of dysplasia and antiretroviral therapy were assessed. A total of 388 HIV-positive women had a mean follow-up of 2.7 years and a median of 2.5 outpatient visits. Results: Out of the 344 patients (57.3%) tested for HPV, 197 showed at least one positive HPV result. Of the same group, 136 women had four or more HPV tests which showed that 84 of them (61.8%) had a persistent HPV-infection. Overall, 157/388 had cervical dysplasia and 70 needed surgery. Forty-one of the 70 patients (58.6%) received more than one surgical treatment because of a recurrence, all of this group had persistent HPV. Discussion: The recurrence of cervical dysplasia in HIV-positive women after surgical treatment was found to be very high as was the associated long-term persistence of HPV-infection. HPV persistence represented an excellent marker for relapsing cervical dysplasia.