Evaluation of the Hybrid Capture human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detection test

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to evaluate the sensitivity and accuracy of a new, nonradioactive human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detection method. STUDY DESIGN: Cervical samples from 520 women were assayed for human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid with both the Hybrid Capture test and polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid was detected with Hybrid Capture in 106 (42%) of 254 samples from women with no evidence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and 211 (79%) of 266 with cervical intraepithelial lesions or cervical cancer. There was a good correlation between Hybrid Capture and polymerase chain reaction, Hybrid Capture correctly identified 92% of samples found to contain a human papillomavirus type with a high or intermediate oncogenic risk with polymerase chain reaction. Although Hybrid Capture can quantify the amount of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid present in a sample, no correlation was observed between the relative amount of human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid detected with Hybrid Capture and the grade of cervical lesion. CONCLUSION: The Hybrid Capture test is a sensitive and accurate method for identifying human papillomavirus types of high and intermediate oncogenic risk in clinical specimens.