Primary HPV screening provides great reassurance for women who test negative that cervical cancer risk is very low. However, for women with positive HPV screening results, triage markers are needed to distinguish women at high risk of precancer who need referral to colposcopy from women with transient infections.
Currently, cytology is the primary triage test considered in HPV screening programs. Several new triage markers are currently being evaluated, including p16/Ki-67 dual stain cytology and host methylation markers.
Development and evaluation of triage markers is one of the most important current tasks for improving cervical cancer screening programs.
In this presentation, the requirements for an ideal triage marker, and the required steps for evaluating such a marker, will be discussed and existing triage strategies will be evaluated in context with these criteria.