minniea,

Gail is only posting the differences she and her husband have been told by their doctors at John Hopkins to explain that there may be a difference and to encourage others to get tested for HPV. That is not different than the way we all explain the differences between RT and IMRT. I'm sure Gail is not trying to make HPV- patients feel badly. Both subsets have SSC and frankly it matters not to me that I may have some statistical advantage if I end up with a reoccurrence anyway, but

The more the defined subsets are studied the better it will be for all OC patients. That can only happen if everyone is tested for HPV and then both subsets are followed. As I posted earlier commingling subsets with HPV+ & HPV - SSC helps no subset and the sooner everyone is tested for HPV by all treatment centers, the more finite the subsets will become and the more accurate the conclusions drawn from those subsets will be.

If John Hopkins' preliminary conclusions suggest a slight difference when comparing them to a commingled population, it will be interesting to compare the 2 subset differences when the population of both are more uniform. Of course that may be years away even if there is a dramatic shift in the front line Dx protocols.