Study shows that US self-sampling tool as effective as Pap smear, which is painful and done in a clinic
A
US study showed that the at-home cervical cancer screening test is as accurate
as a clinical test (96 per cent accuracy) and is preferred by 94 per cent of
women.
The
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved a first of its kind
use-at-home cervical cancer screening tool. Known as “Teal Wand,” it allows
women to collect their vaginal sample at home and send it to the lab for
detection of the cervical cancer-causing Human Papillomavirus (HPV). It is less
painful than the invasive Pap smear test.
The Pap smear detects abnormal cells in the cervix
(narrow end of the uterus connected to the vagina), which can indicate
cervical cancer or precancerous changes. However, many
women find this test uncomfortable or painful due to the insertion of a metal
speculum and the scraping of cells.. The US device comes with a brush. So no
need to put off pelvic examinations.
How reliable is an
at-home cervical screening test?
A
US study showed that the at-home cervical cancer screening test is as accurate
as a clinical test (96 per cent accuracy) and is preferred by 94 per cent of
women.
What are advantages of
a home-based collection system and can they work in India?
According
to Dr Smita Joshi, a senior scientist at Prayas Health Group, “Worldwide two
out of three women have never been screened in their lifetime and hence
improving the screening coverage is important. Self-sampling can help reach the
never screened or hard to reach population.” This gap is the reason why women
in low-and middle- income countries have the highest cervical cancer burden.
In
India, such home collection of samples is still rife with challenges. “For
instance, the logistics of shipping the samplers to the women, ensuring that
they understand why this screening is important, correctly following the
instructions and collecting the sample are still complex tasks for rural
women,” Dr Joshi observed. However, this can also be done with the help of
healthcare personnel in remote areas till the women become aware and capable of
doing this by themselves, she feels.
India, too, has
pilot-tested a self-sampling kit
Dr
Joshi and her team have evaluated if the self-sample collected by the home-grown
CERVICHECK kit yields the same test report as that of the clinician-collected
cervical sample. The study was conducted in Pune and
Baroda with 156 women participants and showed almost similar accuracy results
as the clinician’s test.
How does our own kit
work?
The
kit contains an instruction manual, a biohazard bag for keeping the sample and
the device itself. It comes as a tube encasing a cytobrush with a piston. Once
the tube is inserted in the vagina, one has to rotate the knob clockwise. This
pushes the brush deeper inside to collect tissue samples. Once done, the brush
is dropped into the collection bag. The women participants rated the
self-sampling kit and found its convenience, ease-of-use, comfort and
painlessness at 90 per cent and above.
The
World Health Organisation’s (WHO) envisages cervical cancer screening of 70% of
women at least twice in their lifetime, once at 35 and again at 45. “Although HPV
vaccination of adolescent girls will help in reducing cervical cancer incidence
in low- and middle-income countries by more than 85 per cent over the next
century, adult women, who do not benefit from preventive HPV vaccines, need
immediate cervical cancer screening and appropriate management of pre-cancers,”
Dr Joshi said.
No comments:
Post a Comment