Comparative study between biopsy and brushing sampling methods for detection of human papillomavirus in oral and oropharyngeal cavity lesions.

Introduction: Many epidemiological studies have suggested that human papillomavirus (HPV), especially type 16, is involved in the genesis of squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity and oropharynx, especially in young, non-smoking patients; thus, its detection in lesions in this region is important.

Objective: To clarify the capacity of the brushing sampling method to detect the presence of HPV in oral or oropharyngeal lesions through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, and to compare the results with those obtained by biopsy.

Methods: Prospective study of adult patients with oral or oropharyngeal lesions assessed by PCR, comparing biopsy specimens with samples obtained by the brushing method. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution.

Results: A total of 35 sample pairs were analyzed, but 45.7% of the brushing samples were inadequate (16/35) and, thus, only 19 pairs could be compared. There was agreement of results in 94.7% (18/19) of the pairs, with HPV identified in 16 of them. HPV DNA was detected in 8.6% (3/35) of biopsy and 5.7% (2/35) of brushing samples.

Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference between the two methods, but the brushing sampling method showed a higher number of inadequate samples, suggesting that it is an unreliable method for surveillance.