Background: Only clinically validated HPV assays can be accepted in cervical cancer screening. Objectives: To update the list of high-risk HPV assays that fulfil the 2009 international validation criteria (Meijer-2009). Data Sources: PubMed/Medline, Embase, Scopus, references from selected studies; published in January 2014 to August 2020. Study eligibility criteria: HPV test validation studies and primary screening studies, involving testing with an index HPV test and a comparator HPV test with reporting of disease outcome (occurrence of histologically confirmed cervical precancer; CIN2þ). Participants: Women participating in cervical cancer screening. Interventions: Testing with an index and a comparator HPV test of clinician-collected cervical specimens and assessment of disease outcome (

Human papillomavirus (HPV) test, self-sampling and thermal ablation for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) have been developed separately to increase screening coverage and treatment compliance of cervical cancer screening programmes. A large-scale study in rural China screened 9,526 women with their combinations to explore the optimal cervical cancerscreening cascade in the real-world. Participants received careHPV and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) HPV tests on selfcollected samples. Women positive on either HPV test underwent colposcopy, biopsy and thermal ablation in a single visit. Samples positive on either HPV test were retested for genotyping. Absolute and relative performance of HPV tests, triage strategies, 'colposcopy and thermal ablation' approach were statistically evaluated. PCR HPV test detected 33.3% more CIN grade two or worse (CIN2+) at a cost of 28.1% more colposcopies compared to careHPV. Sensitivities of PCR HPV and careHPV tests to detect CIN2+ were 96.7 and 72.5%. Specificities for the same disease outcome were 82.1 and 86.0%. Triaging HPV-positive women with HPV16/18 genotyping considerably improved the positive predictive value for CIN2+ (4.8-5.0 to 18.2-19.2%). Ninety-six women positive on HPV and having abnormal colposcopy were eligible for thermal ablation and all accepted same-day treatment, contributing to 64.6% being treated appropriately (CIN1+ on histopathology), which reached up to 84.8% among women positive on HPV 16/18 triage. No serious side-effects/ complications were reported. The combination of PCR HPV test followed by HPV 16/18 triaging on self-collected samples and colposcopy of triage positive women followed by immediate thermal ablation might be the appropriate screening cascade for rural China.

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