Better Than Pap Smear: Blood Test Detects Cervical Cancer

Better Than Pap Smear: Blood Test Detects Cervical Cancer


For more than 50 years, doctors have used Papanicolaou tests—better known as Pap smears—to screen women for cervical cancer. But researchers now report that a newer test, based on a blood sample, gives a more accurate diagnosis.

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In a Pap smear, cells scraped from the cervix are analyzed under a microscope for physical abnormalities. Blood tests developed in the past decade, however, can detect the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV). This sexually transmitted disease is the primary cause of cervical cancer.

In two studies in the Oct. 18 New England Journal of Medicine, researchers report that HPV tests caught many more cases of cervical cancer than Pap smears did. More >>


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Pap tests key to cervical cancer prevention

Natural Medicine: Pap tests key to cervical cancer prevention

Is it time for your annual exam? Annual pelvic exams are an important step toward reducing the chance of developing cervical cancer. Over the past 30 years, regular women's exams have significantly decreased the incidence of cervical cancer in many population groups studied in the United States.

Pap tests are one of the best cancer screening tests available, and one of the key reasons that annual exams are recommended by physicians. A Pap test uses a bristled tool to loosen the first layer of cells off the cervix in a procedure not often felt by the patient. A pathologist then examines these cells to determine the health of the cervix, and monitor any unusual cellular changes. Today, it is estimated that approximately 99 percent of changes caused to the cervix are due to the human papilloma virus (HPV). While these changes may take several years to progress to cancer, treatment is most effective and least invasive if the cellular changes are identified early. More >>

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DNA test betters Pap Smear in detecting cervical cancer: Study

DNA test betters Pap Smear in detecting cervical cancer: Study

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test for cervical cancer is far more accurate than the traditional Pap test, according to a Canadian study published Wednesday in the United States.

The first round of the Canadian Cervical Cancer Screening Trial, led by Eduardo Franco, Director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at McGill's Faculty of Medicine, put the HPV test's accuracy in detecting pre-cancerous lesions at 94.6 percent, compared to 55.4 for the Pap test.

The study is published in the October 18 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.

The trial, funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, followed 10,154 women aged 30-69 in Montreal, Quebec and St. John's, Newfoundland from 2002-2005.

"We already knew before conducting this study that the sensitivity of Pap left a lot to be desired," said Franco.

The Papanicolaou (or Pap) test was invented by Georgios Papanicolaou in the 1940s and requires technicians to look under a microscope for abnormalities in cell samples collected from the patient's cervix. It has been the standard screening procedure for cervical cancer for almost 50 years.

The HPV test also requires the collection of cervical samples, but the analysis process is automated and detects the DNA of high-risk HPV strains known to cause cervical cancer.

"Women currently vaccinated against cervical cancer will still need to be screened, because the vaccines that are available now only prevent about 70% of all cervical cancers, and they're primarily for young women," said Franco.

"The HPV test may be ideal for vaccinated women once they reach screening age, because it gives us an opportunity to monitor the protection that the vaccine is supposed to give them," he added.

Cervical cancer kills more than one quarter of a million women worldwide each year. More >>

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New Study Shows Listeria Vaccine for Cervical Cancer Found Safe

New Study Shows Listeria Vaccine for Cervical Cancer Found Safe
CNN Money
October 16, 2007: 05:05 AM EST

NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 16 -- Researchers testing a vaccine based on the live bacteria Listeria, in women with advanced cervical cancer found it to be safe. The Lovaxin C vaccine being developed by Advaxis Inc. , is intended to treat cervical cancer and head and neck cancers that result from the human papilloma virus (HPV). This marked the first time the vaccine had been treated in humans.

"Our long held belief that live Listeria vaccines are safe, even in end stage cancer patients, has been confirmed with the results from our recent Phase I/II study. We have just entered the age of safe bacterial therapies," said Dr. John Rothman, VP of Clinical Development.

The immune response that Listeria generates is called "cellular" immunity, the type needed to attack cancer. Listeria is one of the strongest stimulators of cellular immunity known. "By redirecting it against specific tumor types safely, we have created a new, and potentially very effective, class of cancer therapy," says Rothman. More >>

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Fighting Cervical Cancer in Vermont

Fighting Cervical Cancer in Vermont


South Burlington, Vermont - October 14, 2007

One of the keys to fighting cancer is to keep a healthy lifestyle and get plenty of exercise. And that's what a group of students at the University of Vermont did on Sunday to raise awareness about cervical cancer. They took part in a 5 kilometer run as a way to raise money through pledges.

Unlike most cancers, research has turned up a cause of virtually all cervical cancer. It's the Human Papilloma Virus, or HPV. Allison Hicks contracted the disease and started a foundation -- the Hicks Foundation. Hicks herself beat the cancer, at least for now. "Yes, I'm a cancer survivor," she said. "But the weight of living with the disease presently coming back, or all of the associated costs afterwards, I'm definitely compromised a lot of ways in my health."

Hicks says an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With help from the Sigma Phi Fraternity at the University of Vermont, she's getting the word out about HPV and cervical cancer. The virus is transmitted through sexual contact. Men can be carriers but there are no symptoms in men. Fortunately, women can get a pap smear to test for HPV and now there's a vaccination.

John Rawley of Sigma Phi said, "Just through education, if people are aware of the dangers that something like HPV, the different things that it causes. It makes sense to get the vaccination and Allison Hicks and her foundation help to provide that vaccination and the education to do that."

The UVM students have taken it upon themselves to raise awareness about HPV and its link to cervical cancer.

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Cervical Cancer Screening: Too Many Are Left Unprotected

Science Daily — The decline in cervical cancer is a success story of cancer research. Although there are reasons to be optimistic about even further decreases in cervical cancer incidence, there still remain some women who are not screened.

A meta-analysis by Spence and colleagues published in Preventive Medicine shows that undergoing Pap smears irregularly or never was the primary explanation for the development of invasive cervical cancer, followed by false negative tests and poor follow-up of abnormal results.

Papanicolaou and Traut first reported the usefulness of the Papanicolaou smear (''Pap test") for detecting neoplastic cervical cells in 1943. A smear of cells of the uterine cervix indicating the progression of the cancer's growing malignity provided a powerful screening tool that became rapidly used after WWII without its efficacy being evaluated in a randomized control trial. In the United States, the Pap test is credited with having halved the annual cervical cancer incidence rate (from 17.2 to 8.0 per 100,000) and mortality rate (from 6.2 to 2.9) from 1973 to 1999.

In 2000, 83% of U.S. women age 18 and older who had not had a hysterectomy reported having had a Pap test within the past 3 years. The recent discovery of a vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), the main cause of cervical cancer, opens the way to the primary prevention of the disease.

The natural history of cervical cancer progression combined with the availability of an HPV vaccine and an effective screening test indicate that eradication of the disease is a plausible objective. More >>

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Gene-Based Screen Spots Cervical Cancer Earlier

THURSDAY, Oct. 4 (HealthDay News) -- Compared to conventional tests, human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing enables earlier detection of lesions that lead to cervical cancer, Dutch researchers say.

That means women could go longer between screenings, say researchers at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

The study included more than 17,000 women ages 29 to 56. Of those, close to 8,600 were assigned to receive HPV DNA testing to detect the high-risk types of HPV that can cause cervical cancer. The other half underwent conventional cytological testing. Five years later, both groups of women received both cytological and HPV DNA testing.

At the start of the study, more CIN3+ lesions (cervical cancer and its most serious precursor lesions) were detected in women who had HPV DNA testing (68 of 8,575) than in those who had conventional cytological testing (40 of 8,580). Five years later, fewer CIN3+ lesions were detected in the women who'd had HPV DNA testing (24 of 8,413) than in those who'd had conventional cytological testing (56 of 8,456).

While the number of lesions detected over the two rounds of testing didn't differ between the groups, the lesions were detected earlier in the HPV DNA testing group, the researchers said.

"Our results show that implementation of HPV DNA testing in cervical screening leads to earlier detection of clinically relevant cervical lesions. On the basis of this data, we suggest that the current screening interval of five years could be extended by at least one year. The extension will be advantageous to women because of a reduction in the lifetime number of screening tests and referrals," the study authors wrote.

"A full cost-effectiveness analysis will help to determine whether primary HPV testing alone is the preferred strategy for primary cervical screening," they concluded.

The study was published in The Lancet medical journal.

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Illinois to Offer Free Cervical Cancer Screenings for Uninsured Women

Governor Rod Blagojevich made Illinois the first and only state in the country to offer free breast and cervical cancer screenings and treatment for all uninsured women. This new program called "Take Charge , Get Screened" campaign emphasizes that every woman should get screened for cancer because when it is caught early there is a greater chance of survival. Illinois already has a great program in place called the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program (IBCCP). Starting on October 1st , all women who need access to cancer screenings and treatment will be able to get it. More than 260,000 women in Illinois can qualify for this free testing and treatment regardless of their income.

In 2003, 8,064 women in Illinois had been recently diagnosed with either breast or cervical cancer. 2,057 women died that year from these cancers. If cancer is caught early, there is a greater chance of surviving the disease. That's why this is such an important program. Many women don't have the financial means to access these screenings and treatments. The IBCCP's new program now offers free pelvic exams and free pap tests to any uninsured woman age 35-64. Women 40 - 64, who are also uninsured, will be able to have free breast exams. If a younger woman is showing symptoms and meets their guidelines, they will consider them for treatment on a case to case basis.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007, about 11,150 cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. Approximately 3,670 women will die from cervical cancer in the United States in 2007. Cervical cancer occurs most often in Hispanic women. The rate is twice that for non-Hispanic white women. African-American women will develop this cancer 50% more often than non-Hispanic white women. More >>

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Liz Lange Suffered From Cervical Cancer

NEW YORK (AP) — Liz Lange, the clothing designer who helped transform maternity clothing from boring to chic, once suffered from cervical cancer, she tells Glamour magazine.

Lange was diagnosed after the birth of her second child in 2001, when she was 35, and decided to keep the illness private.

"I knew that I had to fight, but I wanted to take on cancer on my terms," Lange says.

She underwent a hysterectomy and other treatment, but couldn't bear the pain of discussing the disease, she says. More >>
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Researchers Study Cervical Cancer in Rural Appalachia

Researchers Study Cervical Cancer in Rural Appalachia

By Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Oct 10, 2007 - 11:30:08 AM

Investigators with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center are studying why the incidence of cervical cancer in southern and eastern Ohio is higher than the nation and the rest of Ohio.

As the multicounty study enters its fifth and final year, OSU cancer researchers are working with health care administrators and clinicians in 29 Appalachian counties to identify women who may be eligible to enroll in the study.

“Appalachia has higher rates of cervical cancer, and we are trying to figure out why so that we can do something about it,” says Electra Paskett, associate director for population sciences in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Center for Population Health and Health Disparities at Ohio State. “We want women to be aware of our study, so that if they are approached to participate, they may be more likely to say ‘Yes,’ and thereby help us answer important questions about the incidence of cervical cancer in southern and eastern Ohio.”

Ohio’s Appalachian area has some of the highest rates of cervical cancer and death from cervical cancer in the country, says Paskett, who is the lead investigator and director of the first of three projects in the study, which focuses on improving Pap smear screenings. She says the study, called the Community Awareness Resources and Education project, uses a broad approach to examining this health disparity.

Cervical cancer appears to be especially problematic among young, white women in Appalachia, with some studies suggesting that they develop the disease at twice the rate of their counterparts in other parts of the country. Regular Pap smears have dramatically reduced the incidence and death from cervical cancer in this country and other places where screening routinely occurs.

Paskett’s research team is working closely with Mary Ellen Wewers, a researcher in Ohio State’s Comprehensive Cancer Center and a professor of public health at Ohio State, who directs the second project focusing on tobacco use, and Dr. Mack Ruffin, an epidemiologist and family practice physician at the University of Michigan, who directs the third project that will identify environmental, health and lifestyle factors that may contribute to the development of cervical cancer.

The second project identifies participants who smoke and the best strategies they can use to help them quit. The third project will compare risk factors such as human papillomavirus status, sexual behavior, tobacco use and Pap smear screening between women who have cervical abnormalities and those who do not have them.

“Our long-term goal is to reduce the incidence and suffering from cervical cancer. But first we have to find out what’s behind the unusually high rate of this disease so that we can design appropriate interventions,” says Paskett, who is the Marion N. Rowley Designated Chair in Cancer Research in the College of Public Health at Ohio State.

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DNA test could detect cervical cancer early: study

LONDON (Reuters) - A DNA test for the virus that causes cervical cancer helps detect potentially dangerous lesions earlier than the commonly used pap smear technique, Dutch researchers said on Thursday.

The test could mean fewer screenings for women and ensure that they receive earlier treatment for lesions that might lead to cancer, they said in the journal Lancet.

"It is a better test because you pick up more lesions," Chris Meijer, a pathologist at VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam, said in a telephone interview. "And because you pick them up earlier, you have more time to treat the women."

In a pap smear, doctors scrape cells from the cervix and examine them under a microscope for abnormalities that could indicate precancerous lesions. The DNA test screens for evidence of infection by high-risk types of the human papillomavirus (HPV) that cause cervical cancer.

The Dutch study suggests the DNA test is better at indicating which women are at risk of precancerous lesions and should therefore have a biopsy, Meijer said.

"When you are HPV positive (in the test), the likelihood you have precancerous lesions is quite high," he said. "A (pap smear) is not sensitive enough to detect all the lesions."

Cervical cancer is caused by the HPV virus spread through sexual transmission and is the second most common type of cancer in women.

Merck and Co's. Gardasil and GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix vaccines protect people against HPV infection. The tumors kill about 300,000 each year, mostly in developing countries. Continued...

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Pap Smears: When Yours is Slightly Abnormal

Pap Smears: When Yours is Slightly Abnormal

What does an abnormal Pap smear mean?
A Pap smear allows your doctor to look at the cells from your cervix (the lower part of your womb) and see if there are any problems. An abnormal Pap smear means that the cells of your cervix have shown some slightly abnormal changes. Some abnormal cells are more likely than others to be cancerous. Ask your doctor which of the following changes you have.

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Earlier detection of cervical cancer through HPV DNA testing could permit longer screening interval

10.5.07

They conclude: A full cost-effectiveness analysis will help to determine whether primary HPV testing alone is the preferred strategy for primary cervical screening.

By Lancet, [RxPG] Using human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing detects the lesions which lead to cervical cancer earlier than do conventional cytological techniques; this earlier detection could allow the screening interval to be extended. These are the conclusions of authors of an Article published early Online and in an upcoming edition of The Lancet.

Professor Chris Meijer, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, Holland, and colleagues studied 17155 women aged 29 to 56 years participating in the regular cervical screening programme in the Netherlands. Of these, 8575 were assigned to HPV DNA testing to detect the high-risk types of human papillomavirus which can cause cervical cancer, while 8580 had conventional cytological testing. Five years later both cytological and DNA testing was done in both groups.

While it was already known that HPV DNA testing detects more CIN lesions, it was not clear until now whether or not these lesions were indeed relevant (non-regressive) cancer precursors. The researchers found that more CIN3+ lesions (cervical cancer and its most serious precursor lesions) were detected in the women given HPV DNA testing (68/8575 positive results) compared with the conventional cytological testing group (40/8580). Five years later, fewer women were detected with CIN3+ lesions in the HPV DNA group (24/8413) compared with the cytological testing group (56/8456). Thus, while of the number of patients with CIN3+ lesions detected over the two rounds did not differ between the groups, these lesions were detected earlier in the HPV DNA testing group.

The authors say: Our results show that implementation of HPV DNA testing in cervical screening leads to earlier detection of clinically relevant cervical lesions. On the basis of this data, we suggest that the current screening interval of five years could be extended by at least one year. The extension will be advantageous to women because of a reduction in the lifetime number of screening tests and referrals.

They conclude: A full cost-effectiveness analysis will help to determine whether primary HPV testing alone is the preferred strategy for primary cervical screening.

In an accompanying Comment, Drs Guglielmo Ronco and Nereo Segnan. Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, CPO Piemonte, Torino, Italy say: The much lower risk of CIN3+ lesions seen in women classified as screen-negative in the experimental group than in the control group shows that extended screening intervals will be safe with HPV-DNA testing. They add that such longer intervals will not only reduce the cost of screening but also the burden for women, as well as improving participation, which is crucial since non-participation [in screening] is still the most important reason for later development of cervical cancer in most developed countries.

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