New test challenges the need for pap smears

Pap Smear

Cervical cancer is still the no 1 cancer killer for women in South Africa despite being one of the most preventable and successfully treated cancers when detected in time.

Cervical cancer is still the no 1 cancer killer for women in South Africa despite being one of the most preventable and successfully treated cancers when detected in time.

According to the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA), almost one quarter of women in South Africa suffering from cancer have cervical cancer and mostly this is due to late detection of the disease.

A new pap test using a liquid suspension rather than the usual 'smear' has proven to be substantially more effective than the conventional method, by picking up earlier signs of abnormal cells and considerably reducing the amount of 'unsatisfactory' tests which usually forced women to subject to a second test, an uncomfortable and invasive procedure.

"Once cells have been taken, the doctor collects them into a vial of liquid instead of smearing them onto a slide. Because the cells aren't "smeared," they don't clump together. This method also allows for the preservation of almost all of the sample, rather than just a portion. The sample vial is then sent to the laboratory, where an instrument separates the cells from unnecessary materials, such as blood and mucus. The remaining, important cells are then placed onto a slide in a clear and uncrowded way. This approach makes the liquid based cytology slide easier for the lab to read", explains Jason Penrose Group Marketing Manager Lancet Laboratories.

As with AIDS, there is a stigma that cervical cancer is a sexually transmitted disease and a consequence of "promiscuity". As a result, there is reluctance to present for screening at hospitals and clinics. Though young women as well as older women who are sexually active are at risk from contracting the virus, scientists say older women, particularly those in their 30s and older, are at a higher risk. The cancer is thought to be associated with genital tract infection by a strain of the human papilloma virus (HPV), which is commonly associated with genital warts.

According to statistics from the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa), cancer of the cervix is the most common cancer among women, affecting thousands every year. It represents more than 35% of all cancers in black women, who have a lifetime risk of one in 26 of contracting the cancer. White women's lifetime risk for this particular cancer is only one in 83. It is also the most common cancer in coloured women, the second most common in Indian women and, after breast cancer and skin cancer, the third most common cancer in white women.