A lot of times, we fail to fight cancer in the right way because we hardly know what might be the methods of diagnosis. As a woman, you must know which cancer has what screening method. Like breast cancer is diagnosed in a particular so is cervical cancer. There are few screening methods of cervical cancer as well, which you should be aware of.

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Why is screening methods of cervical cancer so important?

New technologies for cervical cancer screening seek to provide an accurate, efficient, and cost-effective way of identifying women at risk for cervical cancer.

Current screening uses HPV DNA testing combined with cytology and requires multiple visits at a great cost to the patient and the society. Hence, with the old ones already in play, you must know also about the new technologies in screening methods of cervical cancer.

What are the screening methods of cervical cancer?

There are some of the very important methods that are now available for women. We would also like to tell our young and old ladies that there are vaccines that must be taken to escape the chance of acquiring cervical cancer.

PAP Tests as one of the screening methods of cervical cancer

The frequently used Pap test is used widely for the first time to diagnose. A Pap test collects cells from the cervix to test for any abnormalities.

The Pap test has been successful as it helped to detect cancer at an early stage. Pap tests, is extremely labor-intensive and do not help you detect the pre-cancerous cells. Research has shown that these are not effective in low resources or developing health economies. This is due to the lack of infrastructure. Some of these places also lack highly trained personnel to read the smear.

Visual Inspection as one of the screening methods of cervical cancer

Visual inspection methods are often used when resources are low at hand. In most cases, they are inexpensive and provide an immediate result. However, they have comparatively low sensitivity.

Liquid-based cytology

Liquid-based cytology is an advancement in the old method of the PAP Test. Recent research has shown that liquid-based cytology might and can be used. However not much has been shown in terms of advantage over conventional Pap tests as far as sensitivity and specificity are concerned. Hence, still not compatible as one of the screening methods of cervical cancer.

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HPV DNA Testing

DNA Testing for HPV is a more recent screening method. Studies show it is more effective at early detection than a traditional Pap test, as it is more accurate and can detect cell abnormalities earlier on.

There is a strong association between persistent infection with high-risk oncogenic types of HPV, the development of cervical cancer precursor lesions and the subsequent development of cervical cancer. Therefore, the development of cervical cancer is associated with persistent infection with oncogenic types of HPV.

The testing of DNA for HPV may be useful in the triage of low-grade cervical changes, follow-up of non-confirmed, possible high-grade changes, post-colposcopy follow-up of CIN 2-3 and clarifying indeterminate histology.

Countries with effective screening methods of cervical cancer have a significantly reduced burden of cervical cancer, in some instances by as much as 80% over the last four decades. However, if undetected until late in its clinical course, it has a high death rate. It is time that India also steps ahead in this. For more details, you can visit our website.

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