HPV Testing Most Successful Method for Cervical Cancer Screening in Developing Countries

 

HPV

"In low-resource settings, testing for human papillomavirus (HPV) might be the most effective method of cervical cancer screening. Compared with cytologic testing and visual inspection of the cervix with acetic acid (VIA), a single round of HPV testing significantly reduced the incidence of advanced cervical cancer and related mortality among women in rural India.

There is a lack of effective screening programs for cervical cancer in developing countries, where 80% of cases occur every year. "A single HPV test that is performed 15 to 20 years after the median age of first sexual intercourse will detect many easily treatable, persistent infections and precancers, while limiting overtreatment," the editorialists note, but widespread implementation of HPV screening still faces a number of challenges.

The introduction of prophylactic HPV vaccines does not diminish the importance of HPV screening, they emphasize. "Even when the vaccines become affordable and widely used, they will not substantially decrease rates of cervical cancer for decades because of the long latency between infection and cancer," they write.

In this study, researchers evaluated the effectiveness of a single round of HPV testing, cytologic testing, or VIA in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and associated mortality rate in women residing in rural India.

HPV Test Most Objective and Reproducible

Overall, the researchers found HPV testing to be the most objective and reproducible of all cervical screening tests, as well as being less demanding in terms of training and quality assurance. A drawback is that it is more expensive and time-consuming than other types of screening tests, and it requires a sophisticated laboratory infrastructure." [Medscape ]