Effect of glacial acetic acid treatment of liquid-based cytology collections on performance of Cervista HPV HR for detection of high-risk human papillomavirus

Inadequate cervical cytological analysis can be facilitated by glacial acetic acid (GAA) treatment of primary liquid-based collections to remove mucus, erythrocytes, inflammatory cells, and cellular debris. In the context of a commercial human papillomavirus (HPV) hybridization assay performed on 465 tandem specimens with and without GAA treatment, we show that GAA treatment significantly reduces genomic DNA content (P < 0.0001) and creates an increased potential for indeterminate and false-negative results. In the context of cytological workflow, laboratories should consider providing a specimen aliquot for HPV DNA detection prior to GAA treatment.