Effect of Glacial Acetic Acid Treatment of Liquid-Based Cytology Collections on Performance of Cervista HPV HR for Detection of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus

Abstract

Inadequate cervical cytological analysis can be facilitated by glacial acetic acid (GAA) treatment of primary liquid-based collections to remove mucus, erythrocytes, inflammatory cells, and cellular debris. In the context of a commercial human papillomavirus (HPV) hybridization assay performed on 465 tandem specimens with and without GAA treatment, we show that GAA treatment significantly reduces genomic DNA content (P < 0.0001) and creates an increased potential for indeterminate and false-negative results. In the context of cytological workflow, laboratories should consider providing a specimen aliquot for HPV DNA detection prior to GAA treatment.