Study urges gap of three years to test cancer of the cervix

WASHINGTON - women in good health more than 30 years that negative test for human papillomavirus (HPV) may be able to safely extend the period between gynecological examinations of each year to three yearssaid a study Wednesday.

"Our results are a formal confirmation that three years follow-up is appropriate and safe for women who have a negative against HPV and the result of the normal test," said the lead author of the study Hormuzd Katki.

The 331,818 women follow-up study which is part of a northern California program test by Kaiser Permanente between 2003 and 2005 and followed them for five years.

Among women who had a normal smears and negative for HPV can cause cervical cancer, the risk of cancer for five years was "very low: 2.3 per 100,000 women per year," he said.

During a PAP test, that all women should obtain each year, a doctor collects a sample of tissue from the cervix of women and sends it to a laboratory for examination and to verify the abnormal cells.

A separate test for HPV is also performed during the annual Gynecologic appointment of women. Often, it uses the same sample of cell but specifically looks for signs of the virus.

HPV is sexually transmitted and most of the time the body can remove on its own.

However, in some cases, the remains of the infection and may eventually lead to cervical cancer.

More than 30 years women who test positive for HPV are usually re-tested in six months to see if the infection is cleared.

Researchers said that when comparing the two criteria, the HPV test only "identified more women at high risk of cervical cancer than the Pap. test".

"These results also suggest that a single HPV negative test result may be sufficient to give a high level of security to extend the interval test every three years," said Katki.

A study more it should be to determine whether these recommendations should extend to the whole of the population, the researchers noted.

"But we need systematic clinical practice elements of additional evidence and official recommendations before regulatory signs which can be systematically recommended."

The PAP test, invented in 1943, has reduced the number of cases of cervical cancer, but has not eliminated - some 11 000 women in the United States are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year.