ABSTRACT
Despite the dramatic decrease in cervical cancer incidence that has occurred since the introduction of routine cytological screening, cervical cancer remains, globally, an important cause of female mortality. Even before the onset of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, cervical cancer was the second most common cancer among women worldwide, accounted for the greatest number of new cancer cases in developing countries, and was the major cause of cancer mortality among women in many parts of the developing world (1). There is now very strong evidence that specific high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV), for example HPV-16 and HPV-18 (based on the frequency with which those types have been identified in invasive cancer specimens; 2), are the probable etiologic agents of most cervical cancers and cervical precancer lesions. These precancer lesions are termed cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1-3, or lowand high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN 1 and CIN 2-3, respectively). It is estimated that from 35 to 50% of CIN 2-3 lesions, which are those thought to be most likely to develop into invasive cancers (3-6), would progress to invasive disease if not ablated (6).
