Cancer screening in HIV-infected patients: early diagnosis in a high-risk population

Objective: With the introduction of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) in 1996, life expectancy of the patients infected with HIV almost approached that of the general population. Immune dis-regulation increases not only the risk of developing a neoplasm, but also its progression rate and aggressiveness. Several recent studies suggest a synergistic carcinogenic effect of aging and the HIV virus. The aim of this study was to obtain data about cancer screening of the HIV-positive patients followed in our center. Patients and Methods: Patients and controls were asked to reply to a survey after signing an informed consent. Data were registered into an electronic database in Excel format and analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Science software (Chicago, IL, USA) for Windows, version 25.0. Results: One hundred and nine individuals (53 HIV-positive cases, 48.6%, and 56 HIV-negative controls, 51.4%) were included in the study. Ninety-four (86.2%) were males. Fourteen cases and 14 controls received a proposal to undergo a screening test during their lifetime. Of these, only ten cases and 10 controls underwent them, with an overall adherence of 18.9% both in cases and controls. Seventeen cases and 20 controls met the criteria for prostate cancer screening, 2 cases and 5 controls should have been proposed the breast cancer screening, 32 cases and 10 controls were eligible for colorectal cancer screening, 11 cases and 4 controls should have undergone lung cancer screening, 5 cases and 8 controls should have undergone PAP test at least once in their life, 27 cases and 4 controls were eligible for anal cancer screening. Conclusions: A low percentage of patients underwent any screening test for cancers, as well as a very low percentage of controls, not only in the HIV positive population, but also in the control group. General practitioners and the infectious specialists hold the opportunity to propose and promote cancer screening tests as an integral part of the clinical management of patients, especially if at high risk, such as PLWH.