HPV Test Alone Now Recommended For Cervical Cancer Screening

On Thursday, new recommendations for cervical cancer screenings were released on the human papillomavirus (HPV), which will incorporate a pap smear, along with one approved HPV test to be used for cancer screening. For the past 80 years, a pap smear alone was used to test for cervical cancer.

On Jan. 8, researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham published research recommending that an HPV test be used alone in testing for cervical cancer for the first time.

"While there continue to be numerous practical and research questions, primary HPV testing has the potential to further reduce morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer in the U.S. However, what is most important is that women need to be screened with any strategy, as many women in the U.S. with cervical cancer are either unscreened or underscreened," researchers noted, in a news release.

The study authors believe that the HPV test will provide a more accurate reading than the pap smear for several reasons, including providing fewer false negatives and a less sensitive screening, overall.

"Pap smears miss a fair number of adenocarcinomas. We don't want a test that will miss disease."

Though the testing experience for the patient will remain the same, the primary difference between now and the past will be the screening process. Whereas the pap smear test looked for the presence of abnormal cells, the HPV test will examine samples put into an automated machine to detect HPV DNA.

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journals Gynecologic Oncology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease.

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