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Tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) offer women twice as likely to catch cervical cancer indicators as traditional Pap tests – and require less tests Frequent, according to a study published in
Why That Matters: Cervical cancer, which is the fourth most common cause of cancer among women, is expected to kill about 4,170 American women and to be diagnosed in 13,200 Americans this year alone
. beautifully shows that the HPV test is more than twice as sensitive as liquid cytology [Pap tests]. "
– Mark Stoler, Professor Emeritus of Pathology and Clinical Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Virginia
Background: This paper builds on previous research that indicated that HPV testing was more effective than Pap tests, says author of the study, Gina Ogilvie, at Axios.
- Currently, many US practitioners recommend co-testing on their The Pap test checks for changes in cervical cells that could progress to cervical cancer.
- The HPV test looks for viral infection that could HPV, which has more than 120 different types, causes about 99.3% of cervical cancers, says Ogilvie (HPV-16 and HPV-18 strains). have the strongest link with cervical cancer.)
- Pap tests have been the essential first step in cervical cancer prevention efforts of the & # 39; uterus [but]. " According to an editorial by L. Stewart Massad of the Washington University School of Medicine
- while the cost of the HPV test is a bit higher than the Pap test, they are in the same order of ideas, says Stoler. they did: The study involved 19,009 women. About half (9,457) received a Pap test; those with negative results are returned 2 years later for a repeat test, followed by the final test 2 years later. The other half (9,552 women) underwent an HPV test, and those with negative results returned 4 years later for the final test. The final test at 48 months was a co-test
What they found at the end of 4 years:
- 2.3 out of 1000 women who had initially had a negative test with HPV test level of severe abnormal cells (CIN3) detected requiring further testing.
- 5.5 out of 1,000 women who had a Pap test originally had a level of CIN3 requiring additional testing,
- "Using an HPV test, we detected precancerous lesions earlier but also when they were negative to HPV. "Ogilvie says.
- In the end, they added a Pap test to the HPV control group and found 3 new cases of precancer. They added the HPV test to the Pap control group and found 25 other precancerous cases.
- "All the power is in the HPV test and very little in the cytology tests," says Stoler, though he adds that some will point to the 3 cases to keep the co-test regime [19659016] What's Next: Ogilvie says that his research team is preparing a paper on cost-effectiveness that will be published in about a year. But, meanwhile, she hopes the deepest evidence pushes the US Preventive Services Task Force to say, "Do we have value added when we do Pap and HPV tests?"
"This has been built for decades," Mark Schiffman of the National Cancer Institute told The Washington Post, who adds that he calls the Pap test "gross and inaccurate." [19659019] [ad_2]
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