Advisers Endorse HPV Test for Cervical Cancer Checks

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Two groups call it an effective alternative to the Pap test, but another group disagrees

WebMD News from HealthDay
By Robert Preidt
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Jan. 8, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- An HPV test recently approved by U.S. health officials is an effective way to check for cervical cancer, two leading women's health organizations said Thursday.
The groups said the HPV test is an effective, one-test alternative to the current recommendation of screening with either a Pap test alone or a combination of the HPV test and a Pap test.
However, not all experts are in agreement with the move: the largest ob-gyn group in the United States, the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) is still recommending that women aged 30 to 65 be screened using either the Pap test alone, or "co-tested" with a combination of both the HPV test and a Pap test.
The new, so-called interim guidance report was issued by two other groups -- the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology. It followed U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval last year of the cobas HPV test as a primary test for cervical cancer screening.
The HPV test detects DNA from 14 types of HPV -- a sexually transmitted virus that includes types 16 and 18, which cause 70 percent of cervical cancers.
The two medical groups said the interim guidance report will help health care providers determine how best to include primary HPV testing in the care of their female patients until a number of medical societies update their guidelines for cervical cancer screening.
"Our review of the data indicates that primary HPV testing misses less pre-cancer and cancer than cytology [a Pap test] alone. The guidance panel felt that primary HPV screening can be considered as an option for women being screened for cervical cancer," interim guidance report lead author Dr. Warner Huh said in a news release from the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. Huh is director of the University of Alabama's Division of Gynecologic Oncology
The FDA approved the cobas HPV test last April as a first step in cervical cancer screening for women aged 25 and older. Roche Molecular Systems Inc., headquartered in Pleasanton, Calif., makes the test.