Brief Article
Increased Risk of Cervical Dysplasia in Long-Term Survivors of Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation—Implications for Screening and HPV Vaccination

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2008.07.005Get rights and content
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Abstract

As more women survive allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), the development of genital human papilloma virus (HPV)-related squamous intraepithelial lesions (SIL) warrants study. Thirty-five of 38 females followed prospectively long-term after SCT for hematological malignancies (median: 7 years posttransplant) were adults and had cervical cytology testing. Acute graft-versus-host-disease (aGVHD) occurred in 9 and chronic (cGVHD) in 34 patients. Six (17%) continued receiving systemic immunosuppressive therapy (IST) for cGVHD >3 years after SCT. Of 15 (43%) with abnormal cytology, 12 (34%) patients had HPV-related SIL (median time to SIL 51 months, range: 22-108) including high-grade SIL in 7 (20%). Patients requiring continued IST had the highest risk (odds ratio [OR] 4.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-16.4; P = .019). This high incidence of SIL in long-term SCT survivors underscores the importance of gynecologic assessment after transplantation, especially in those requiring IST. This may portend an increased risk of genital or other HPV-related malignancies.

Key Words

Cervical dysplasia
HPV
long-term survivors
stems cell transplantation

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B.N.S. and P.S. contributed equally to this work.

Declaration of commercial interest: None.