On Healthy Living

There is a new screening test for detecting precancer of the cervix. According to the New England Journal Of Medicine, It is supposed to be twice as sensitive as the Pap Smear, which doctors have traditionally used to screen for cervical cancer. You may want to ask your doctor at your next check-up about the test, which is called the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Test.

Since cervical cancers can often be treated successfully if caught early, women should be vigilant when it comes to early screening. The HPV Test uses machines that scan cells taken from the cervix for the DNA of the cancer-causing strains of the Human Papilloma Virus.
And compared to the 44.6 percent error rate of the Pap Test, the chance for error with the HPV Test is only 5.4 percent. Early detection of precancerous cells in the cervix is extremely important for women; while HPV is fairly common in sexually active women, and is often fought off by the immune system, a positive test result will alert you and your doctor so that you can be carefully monitored and further testing can be discussed with you and your doctor.

Irene Bellamy wrote this on March 26th, 2008 and filed it under Healthy Living |