Health Care Article of the month
October 2001
Cervical Cancer
HPV Testing Can Detect Early Cervical Cancer. According
to a study performed at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland,
Calif., DNA testing for the human papilloma virus may be more effective at
diagnosing early-stage cervical cancer in women with abnormal Pap smears than
other tests. Publishing their results in the May 5 journal of the American
Medical Association, the researchers stated that 6.7 percent of the test group
of women had precancerous cervixes. HPV tests were positive in 89.2 percent of
these women, compared to 76.2 percent of repeat Pap smears. The researchers
concluded that HPV testing would elirninate the need for repeat Pap testing, and
would more effectively distinguish women who should have further testing
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