A More Accurate Cervical Cancer Test

category: Dafé’s Café - Daily Dose of Medical News,MyDocHub
by Dafé,

According to researchers at McGill University in Montreal, a new screening test was roughly twice as accurate as the traditional Pap smear at spotting cervical cancer. It is even better for women in that they will not need to be screened as often.

The rigorous study which was published in the recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) test, which looks for the virus that causes cervical cancer, accurately spotted 95 percent of the cancers. The Pap test, which checks for abnormal cells under a microscope, only found 55 percent.

Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecologic cancer for the American Cancer Society, said: “Overall, I don’t think there’s any doubt that HPV testing has a lot of advantages over the Pap test.”