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Nearly all cervical cancer cases are linked to HPV infection, and HPV testing detected pre-cancers earlier and more accurately than the Pap test among the 19,000 women in the Canadian study. The HPV test also seemed better at predicting cancer-free patients. Women whose HPV test showed they didn’t have the infection were less apt to develop a pre-cancerous lesion over the next four years, compared to women who’d gotten the Pap test.
Women of childbearing age should be screened for cervical cancer, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, women aged 21 to 29 should have a Pap test alone every three years. Women 30 to 65 years should have a Pap test and an HPV test every five years or a Pap test alone every three years. Cervical cancer is very rare in younger women, and an HPV test might send many women for unnecessary treatment.
The researchers randomly assigned more than 19,000 women aged 25 and older to either Pap testing alone or HPV testing alone. After four years, nearly six women in 1,000 who had Pap tests had pre-cancerous lesions, compared with just two in 1,000 women who had HPV tests alone. This trial showed that screening with HPV testing leads to earlier diagnosis of cervical pre-cancer and picks up cases that Pap testing missed.
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