Is colposcopy for recurrent post-coital bleeding always necessary?
The procedure can be avoided with negative results for both HPV DNA and cytology, a study suggests
Patients with recurrent post-coital bleeding who are negative on HPV DNA and cytology co-testing might only need colposcopy if there is a clinical suspicion of cervical cancer, Melbourne clinicians say.
They analysed data on more than 2000 women who attended the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, for colposcopy between 2000 and 2019 to investigate recurrent bleeding after sexual intercourse.
The data was analysed in two cohorts. The larger cohort of 1846 women had undergone cervical screening with the Pap test between 2000 and 2016.
A smaller cohort of 215 women had been screened in 2018-19 using primary HPV testing with partial genotyping and reflex liquid-based cytology triage.
