Self-sample kit may boost cervical screening

Even without dealing with infertility going into the ob/gyn isn't my favorite activity. I don't really know anyone who enjoys going in for their yearly appointment. And I also know that this aversion keeps some women away from the office more times than they should. This article shows an interesting take on raising the percentages of women who get tested for HPV.

Here is what happened:

As reported in the International Journal of Cancer, 2,546 women who had not undergone regular cervical screening were mailed a self-sample kit. It included a small brush for collecting a cervical specimen, a collection tube, easy-to-follow instructions and a padded envelope for returning the sample to the lab. There it would be tested for human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the cause of nearly all cases of cervical cancer.

An additional 284 similar women received just an extra recall notice for conventional Pap smear-based screening.

Meijer and colleagues report that 34 percent of women in the self-sampling group responded compared with 18 percent in the second recall group.

Self-sampling participants who had a positive HPV result were invited for further examination and treatment as needed.

HPV is defined by Wikipedia as,

Papillomaviruses are a diverse group of DNA-based viruses that infect the skin and mucous membranes of humans and a variety of animals. More than 100 different human papillomavirus (HPV) types have been characterized. Some HPV types cause benign skin warts, or papillomas, for which the virus family is named. HPVs associated with the development of such "common warts" are transmitted environmentally or by casual skin-to-skin contact.

Another interesting find from the study was that the women that sent in their samples had higher percentages of high rate pre cancer, opposed to a lower rate in the second recall group. Researchers are hoping that they could extend the self sample testing to the entire Netherlands to help catch the pre cancerous lesions earlier.