New recommendations were released Thursday for cervical cancer screenings - researchers say the human papillomavirus (HPV) test could be used alone.
The pap smear alone was used to test for cervical cancer for the last 80 years. In April 2014, the FDA changed that when they approved one HPV test to be used in conjunction with the pap smear for cancer screening.
On Jan. 8, researchers from University of Alabama at Birmingham published research recommending the HPV test be used alone in testing for cervical cancer for the first time.
"While there continue to be numerous practical and research questions, primary HPV testing has the potential to further reduce morbidity and mortality of cervical cancer in the U.S. However, what is most important is that women need to be screened with any strategy, as many women in the U.S. with cervical cancer are either unscreened or underscreened," the study researchers wrote in a news release.
The HPV test gives a more accurate reading than the pap smear, University of Alabama at Birmingham gynecologic oncologist Warner Huh explained in the release.
"The scientific evidence clearly demonstrates that primary HPV testing outperforms cytology or Pap as a screening test," Huh said. "This has been confirmed from numerous European and Canadian studies as well as the ATHENA trial. There are going to be fewer false negatives with HPV, and arguably, we have been using a less sensitive test for screening for a while now.
"Pap smears miss a fair number of adenocarcinomas. We don't want a test that will miss disease."
The testing experience will remain the same for the patient. The difference between the pap smear and the HPV test is how it's screened. In the pap smear test, a technician looks for abnormal cells; whereas in the HPV test the sample is put into an automated machine to detect HPV DNA, according to the release.
The screening is recommended in women who are 25 years old or older.
The research is being published simultaneously in journals Gynecologic Oncology, Obstetrics & Gynecology and the Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease.
