Diagnostic Accuracy of Circulating Tumor HPV DNA Testing in Patients With a Lateral Neck Mass.

Importance: The most frequent presenting symptom for patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) is a lateral neck mass. Circulating tumor tissue-modified viral (TTMV)-HPV DNA is a unique biomarker produced by the fragmentation of HPV DNA during the degradation of HPV-associated tumors, and its detection and quantitation are currently being used as an adjunct to imaging in monitoring for disease recurrence and may have utility for diagnosis.

Objective: To measure the diagnostic characteristics of TTMV-HPV DNA compared with gold standard tissue biopsy for diagnosing HPV-OPSCC in patients presenting with an indeterminate lateral neck mass.

Design, setting, and participants: This prospective diagnostic test study enrolled patients 18 years or older who presented with a lateral neck mass to a large urban tertiary health care system from December 2021 to June 2023. Participants underwent standard-of-care testing to obtain a tissue diagnosis and a single TTMV-HPV DNA measurement.

Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome of interest was sensitivity, while specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were secondary end points. A subset analysis was performed comparing test performance metrics between TTMV-HPV DNA testing and fine-needle aspiration.

Results: A total of 138 patients were included, of whom 80 (58.0%) were men, with median age of 57.5 years (IQR, 43.3-67.0 years). Of 138 patients, 87 (63.0%) had neck masses in level 2 and 47 (34.1%) had HPV-OPSCC. TTMV-HPV DNA testing exhibited a sensitivity of 95.7% (95% CI, 85.5%-99.5% [45 of 47 patients]), specificity of 97.8% (95% CI, 92.3%-99.7% [89 of 91 patients]), positive predictive value of 95.7% (95% CI, 85.5%-99.5% [45 of 47 patients]), and negative predictive value of 97.8% (95% CI, 92.3%-99.7% [89 of 91 patients]).

Conclusions and relevance: In this diagnostic study of patients presenting with a lateral neck mass, circulating TTMV-HPV DNA demonstrated excellent diagnostic test characteristics for the detection of HPV-OPSCC. Such testing may have particular utility for patients in whom obtaining adequate tissue is problematic, as is often the case with cystic neck masses and unknown primary tumors.