ENSURING SAMPLE ADEQUACY USING TURBIDITY LIGHT SCATTERING TECHNIQUES

摘要

Cervical cancer screening using HPV testing can yields a high negative predictive value of approximately 99.5% for prediction of cervical lesions of CIN3 or greater. However, sample adequacy can affect the number of at-risk women that may go undetected due to the inadequacy of the tested sample. We have approached this challenge of increasing sample assurance of the negative results by estimating the cell count in known fluid volumes using light scattering techniques, in particular turbidity. These methods may be used as a fast, convenient, and economical method for measuring sample adequacy for other uses as well. Particular examples using these methods in conjunction with the HC2 HPV test are provided herein.