Human Papilloma Virus

In recent years, the number of individuals presenting with genital human papilloma virus (HPV) infection has increased. Typically, the infection is seen in the young; in particular, it often occurs in persons who have recently become coitally active. Ever since the association of HPV DNA with invasive carcinomas of the cervix, the infections have been the focus of considerable attention. However, despite abundant research into the characteristics of the papilloma virus and the nature of its infection, there still exists a lack of consensus regarding appropriate therapeutic modalities. Currently, a number of possible treatment options may be employed for HPV infection. The differences between these various modalities comprise both technical and procedural dimensions.

Perhaps the two most wellknown treatments for HPV infection are cryotherapy and CO2laser vaporization. Yliskoski and associates (1989) compared both the efficacy and feasibility the two techniques (8:620). This they related to the natural history of HPV infection without any treatment.

The study included 119 women with HPV infections of the cervix and/or vagina. The women were selected based on HPVinduced changes observed during routine Papanicolaou (PAP) smears. These changes included cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CIN) grades I, II, and combined lesions.

Fourteen months after receiving either cryotherapy or CO2laser vaporization treatmen

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ffect on the outcome of genital HPV infections (7:58). Furthermore, although the IFNtreated group showed a greater response against HPV16 at week 8, the number of patients in each subgroup was too small for any accurate analysis of the different HPV types. Overall, while the authors suggested that perhaps higher doses and longer durations of systemic interferonalpha therapy might have altered their results, they found no significant evidence of the efficacy of systemic IFN. Moreover, they noted that this was also true with respect to both the lowrisk and highrisk subgroups of HPV infection. Finally, another approach to treating HPV infection involves photodynamic therapy (PDT). Current destructive methods for the treatment of HPV infection show little selectivity (1:686). PDT uses light of an appropriate wavelength to excite a photosensitizer which has become incorporated into a tissue. Upon excitation, the photosensitizer transfers energy to oxygen to produce a singlet oxygen species. The singlet oxygens then destroy the tissue's cells. The photosensitizer, dihematoporphyrin ethers/esters (DHE) is known to selectively localize in tumors, thus allowing for the destruction of the tumor's cells. This same mecha
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Approximate Word count = 3063
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)

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