Cervical screening in high-income countries: the need for quality assurance, adjunct biomarkers and rational adaptation to HPV vaccination.

Abstract

We here discuss human papillomavirus (HPV)-based screening avenues to achieve elimination of cervical cancer as a public health problem in high-income country (HIC) settings, covering both the most recent data on the performance of HPV testing, as well as the currently most robust triage methods that are known. We also provide an outlook to several other promising, yet not fully established, options for triage that have been proposed, including methylation, dual staining, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Finally, we discuss the key issue of how to adapt screening in the presence of programmatic HPV vaccination, and how this combination can best be leveraged for comprehensive cancer control. We conclude that, for the HIC setting, evidence-based and effective cervical screening methods are readily available, but whichever method or platform is chosen, we would propose that recurring audits of performance and population attendance remain common denominators for maintaining successful disease prevention.