To explore the clinical efficacy of Chinese traditional medicine Paiteling in treatment of high risk-human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) persistent infection after cervical lesion surgery.

From April 2014 to June 2016, a total of 188 patients who were positive with HR-HPV before and 3-12 months after cervical conization or hysterectomy, while the postoperative histopathology results were cervical intraepithelial neoplasm (CIN)1 or normal cervical tissue in Beijing Tsinghua Changgung Hospital, School of Clinical Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing Friendship Hospital of Capital Medical University, The First Bethune Hospital of Jilin University, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University and Jiangsu Jiangyin People′s Hospital, were selected as research subjects, including 122 patients undergoing cervical conization and 66 patients undergoing hysterectomy. According to the medication plan of postoperative HR-HPV persistent infection, 122 patients who received cervical conization were divided into study group 1 (n=86) and control group 1 (n=36); 66 patients who received hysterectomy were divided into study group 2 (n=43) and control group 2 (n=23). Patients in study group 1 and 2 were treated with Paiteling, while patients in control group 1 and 2 were treated with recombinant human interferon. The first and second postoperative HR-HPV detection were conducted by the second generation hybrid capture 2 (HC2), which were performed on the (60±7) days, (120±7) days after treatment, respectively. The effective rates of postoperative HR-HPV persistent infection treatment for patients in 4 groups were compared by chi-square test. The procedures followed in this study were in line with the requirements of newly revised World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki in 2013. All patients signed clinical research informed consent before treatment. There were no significant differences in age and preoperative cervical lesion grading between study group 1 and control group 1, study group 2 and control group 2 (P>0.05).

For patients in study group 1, effective rate of postoperative HR-HPV persistent infection treatment was 77.9% (67/86), which was statistically higher than that in control group 27.8% (10/36), and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=27.393, P<0.001). For patients in study group 2 and control group 2, effective rates of postoperative HR-HPV persistent infection treatment were 62.8% (27/43) and 39.1% (9/23), respectively, but there was no statistical difference (P>0.05).

Paiteling is effective for treatment of HR-HPV persistent infection after cervical conization or hysterectomy for cervical lesions surgery, especially for patients who underwent cervical conization. Due to the relatively small number of patients enrolled in this study, the efficacy of Paiteling in treatment of HR-HPV persistent infection after cervical lesion surgery remains to be further confirmed by large-sample size, multi-center, and randomized controlled trials.