Will HPV Testing Supplant Pap Tests?

By brightfeather on October 19th, 2007

Cervical cancer kills more than one quarter of a million women worldwide each year. Yesterday Canadian researchers saidthat a test that looks for the virus found in 99 percent of cervical tumors is far more effective than a Pap smear for detecting the early stages of cervical cancer.

Will HPV testing supplant Pap tests? Are we in the cusp of a “revolution in cervical cancer screening” as we know it.

HPV causes most cervical cancers. According to the American Cancer Society, of all the women in the U.S. with cervical cancer, 60 percent had never been screened, or hadn’t been screened in the last 5 years. That’s why women should be diligent about getting Pap tests, which have been the standard for detecting cell changes in the cervix that could be caused by HPV.

Now, there’s a different kind of test - a DNA test for HPV, a swab done during a regular pelvic exam, that its supporters say is better than the Pap, and may even surpass it as the cervical cancer screening method of choice.

The New England Journal of Medicine features a pair of studies extolling virtues of HPV testing.

A Canadian study looking at more than 10,000 women, found the HPV test correctly found 95 percent of the lesions that could develop into cervical cancers; while the Pap test found only 55 percent.

HPV test costs about $90 compared to $10 to $20 for a pap test. The false positive rate is just over 3 percent for a Pap smear. And while the HPV test found more cases of active infection and of precancerous lesions, it gave a false positive report in 6 percent of the women.

Categories: Health, Sexuality
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