Clinical update on the role of HPV and cervical cancer.

In the mid-1980s, a clear connection was made between infection by the human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer. This association led to the generation of a large body of literature about the diagnosis, testing, treatment, transmission and, virological life span of HPV-related neoplasms and cancers. Because of advances in virology, molecular biology, and biochemistry, more is known about HPV and its effects on cervical neoplasms than ever before. Because deaths from cervical cancer, while less common in the United States and western Europe, account for 20% of cancer deaths in women worldwide (1), accurate knowledge of the disease and its prevention is critical for nurses working with patients both with preinvasive and invasive disease.