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Why it's done
By Mayo Clinic staffThe HPV test is a screening test for cervical cancer, but the test doesn't tell you whether you have cancer. Instead, the test detects the presence of HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer, in your system. Certain types of HPV — including types 16 and 18 — increase your cervical cancer risk.
Knowing whether you have a type of HPV that puts you at high risk of cervical cancer means that you and your doctor can better decide on the next steps in your health care. Those steps might include follow-up monitoring, further testing, or treatment of abnormal or precancerous cells.
Routine use of the HPV test in women under age 30 isn't recommended, nor is it very helpful. HPV spreads through sexual contact and is very common in young women, so, frequently, the test results will be positive. But HPV infections often clear on their own within a year or two. Cervical changes that lead to cancer take several years — often 10 years or more — to develop. For these reasons, you might follow a course of watchful waiting instead of undergoing treatment for cervical changes resulting from an HPV infection.
- Making sense of your Pap and HPV test results. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/pap/default.htm. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012.
- Thinking about testing for HPV? American Cancer Society. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_6x_Thinking_About_Testing_for_HPV.asp?sitearea=&level=. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012.
- Human papillomavirus: HPV information for clinicians. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/common-clinicians/ClinicianBro-fp.pdf. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012.
- Sirovich BE, et al. Screening for cervical cancer. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012.
- Solomon D, et al. Statement on HPV DNA test utilization. Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease. 2009;13:135.
- Bosch FX. Human papillomavirus: Science and technologies for the elimination of cervical cancer. Expert Opinion Pharmacotherapy. 2011;12:2189.
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