Assessment of fine needle aspiration specimen adequacy for high-risk HPV detection and genotyping in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to determine the adequacy of archived and fresh fine needle aspiration (FNA) specimens from metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) for the molecular detection and genotyping of high-risk (HR) HPV. STUDY DESIGN Thirty-seven specimens from 26 patients diagnosed by FNA with metastatic SCC were included as retrospective specimens [19 slides stained with Papanicolaou (Pap) and 18 with Diff-Quik® (DQ)]. Twenty fresh FNA specimens from 18 patients were included as prospective specimens. These specimens were analyzed using the standard protocol for ThinPrep® cervical specimens, with a Cervista HR HPV detection kit. The positive specimens were tested for the HPV 16 and 18 genotypes. RESULTS Forty-four of 57 specimens (77%) had sufficient cells to yield a valid HPV result. The adequacy rate for Pap-stained slides was 15/19 (79%), for DQ-stained slides it was 13/18 (72%), and for fresh needle aspirates it was 16/20 (80%). HR HPV was detected in 23/44 (52%) specimens. Among the 23 HPV-positive specimens, 19 were genotyped as HPV 16 and 1 as HPV 18. CONCLUSIONS HR HPV detection and genotyping can be performed on FNA specimens of head and neck SCC prospectively collected in PreservCyt as well as on archival slides with either Pap or DQ stain.