Women treated for HPV infection (in the screen-and-treat programme) or those treated for CIN are at higher risk of subsequent disease compared with women in the general population.
Therefore, post-treatment follow-up is essential. Because of the high sensitivity and high negative predictive value, an HPV test after treatment is considered to be the test of cure.
HPV testing is sensitive for the detection of residual or recurrent disease after treatment for CIN2 or worse lesions and is more sensitive than cytology alone.
For women in the general population who are HPV-positive and are treated with ablation or LLETZ (with or without histopathology), if the repeat HPV test result after 1 year is negative, they can return to the routine screening interval (depending on the primary screening test).
For women living with HIV who are treated with ablation or LLETZ (with or without histopathology), two consecutive negative HPV test results at 1 year apart are recommended before returning to the routine screening interval.
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