Self-test kit for cervical cancer may improve diagnosis--study

Researchers at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands, have established that home screening tests for women who do not respond to diagnosis calls for cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV) could increase the number of detections per se.

Lead researcher, Chris J.L.M. Meijer, MD, VU University Medical Center said, “It is feasible and effective to offer women who do not attend regular cervical screening programmes the choice of self-sampling by sending a device for collecting cervico-vaginal specimens for high-risk HPV testing.”

“Implementation is likely to pay off immediately in terms of protecting a subset of non-attendees known to be at increased risk of cervical cancer,” stated the study authors.

28,073 women tested
In a community-based cervical cancer screening program, Dutch researchers spotted 28,073 women who did not appear in two screening invitations in the year 2005.

The research team followed 27,792 of these subjects from December 2006 to April 2007 for diagnosis.

The females were asked to use the Delphi Screener device to collect sample from cervical fluid at homes and restore it to the research team.

The second group with the remaining 281 women was summoned for a usual cervical screening test, so the responses of both groups could be compared.

Results of the study
On evaluating the attendance of the groups, researchers established that home-detection kits proved more beneficial in diagnosis, than the recall method.

The team found that out of 28,073 females, 7,384 executed the call and collected their cervical samples, compared to the recall group where only one in seven females showed up for diagnosis.

Out of the first group, 76 showed positive signs of cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (grade III or higher) and another 23 were diagnosed with grade II lesions and were advised more tests.

According to the researchers, 57 percent females from the first group joined the earlier round of clinical screening, compared to 43 percent non-attendees.

It was also revealed that the clinical-screening group was at two-fold risk for clinically significant lesions than the self-test group.

“The compliance rates and accuracy of HPV testing with the self-collected specimens were less than optimal. But, pointing to the nearly 100 clinically significant lesions detected in the self-sampling group, this option should be offered more widely,” concluded Meijer.

The study appears online in British Medical Journal.