[Diagnosis of cervicovaginal infection by human papillomavirus. Value of colposcopy, cytology and histopathology as methods of diagnosis].

The authors evaluated 476 patients to determine the accuracy of colposcopy, cytology, and histopathology as diagnostic methods for cervical and vaginal HPV infections. Results were treated by statistical analysis which showed significant disagreement among the methods tested. Colposcopy was positive in 87.8% of the cases. Abnormal transformation zone was the most frequent finding in the cervix, acetowhite epithelium being its main representative. Condylomatous vaginitis was the most frequent feature in the vaginal surface. Cytology was positive in 76.9% of the cases. To increase sensitivity of this method, the authors suggest that not only koilocytosis is important, but other major aspects are also important, such as minimal koilocytosis, dyskeratosis, karyopyknosis, binucleation, and multinucleation. Histopathology was positive in 81.9% of the cases. In conclusion, the three diagnostic methods studied presented statistical disagreement, however, they are supplementary and efficient.