HPV tests are more effective at detecting precancerous cells in women than vaginal smears / Boing Boing



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As a person born with a penis, I can not imagine how uncomfortable and intrusive a Pap test is.

If you're not familiar with what's a Pap test, ask a friend or let me give you the essential: A Pap test, also called Pap smear , is a test that can detect cancer. To perform the test, a doctor scrapes the tissue of a woman's uterine cervix to screen for abnormal growth that might indicate that cancer might be in her cards. Given the issues, I can see why someone would submit to it. According to the CBC, a recent study has determined that screening for human papillomavirus (HPV) instead of simply screening for abnormal cells can be much more effective in determining if a woman is at risk of developing cervical cancer. The real starting point here is that for a woman, being tested for HPV can be a procedure almost identical to that of a Pap test. It means a lot more gain for the same amount of pain.

RSC:

A clinical trial conducted in British Columbia. and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) randomly divided about 19,000 women into two groups. The control group presented the traditional Pap test for initial screening, while the test group had primary HPV testing – a test that looked for more than a dozen specific types of HPV that could cause precancerous cervical lesions. of the uterus.

The HPV test found nearly 60% more precancers – or potentially cancerous abnormal cells – during initial screening than the Pap test, said Dr. Dirk van Niekerk, co-author of the study and medical pathologist. Head of Cervical Cancer Screening Program in British Columbia Cancer Agency.

While the dream is to find a way to detect cervical cancer in women and as I get to the age where I should start to think, cancer of the the prostate in men, without invasive intervention, increases by 60% in the effectiveness of screening, for everyone, is a huge medical victory.

Image via Maxpixel

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Seamus

Seamus Bellamy is a full-time hobo who writes about technology, travel and the dark, delicious things while crisscrossing the world with his partner and puppy, Boudica.

Go ahead, follow him on Twitter @SeamusBellamy

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