HPV Testing Best for Detecting Cancer
Jacksonville - According to a new study, HPV (human papilloma virus) tests are more effective than other tests at detecting cervical cancer.
The study, published online today in the New England Journal of Medicine, compared women in rural India who received screening and immediate treatment for the human papilloma virus against those receiving education and referral, Bloomberg reported.
HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection and early detection is crucial as it leads to cervical cancer in women.
“The implications of the findings of this trial are immediate and global,” declare Mark Schiffman and Sholom Wacholder of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., in the same issue of NEJM. HPV testing should now be widely implemented in poor countries, they say.
The test could eventually replace the Pap smear as the primary method for cancer screening
According to the National Cervical Cancer Coalition, in the majority of developing countries, cervical cancer remains the number-one cause of cancer-related deaths among women.
