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Fri, 07/01/2011 - 00:00
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, the UK’s only dedicated cervical cancer charity welcomes the news that from April 2011 Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) testing will be incorporated into the NHS Cervical Screening Programme.
HPV testing will now be used for ‘HPV triage’ of women with borderline or low grade cervical abnormalities. If HPV is found they will be referred for colposcopy and if HPV is not found they will be returned to routine screening every 3 or 5 years depending on age.
Robert Music, director of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust said “This is positive news and by making screening more targeted and effective it will reduce the number of unnecessary screening procedures and the anxiety screening can cause.”
“We are very fortunate to have the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, which since its inception has dramatically reduced incidence of cervical cancer. However, over 20% of women are still not taking up their screening invitation and we must continue to push to increase uptake and put in place targeted campaigns to persuade more women to take up a test that could quite simply save their life.”
Notes to Editors
• Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust www.jostrust.org.uk is the UK’s only charity dedicated to offering support and information for women, families and friends affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities
• Cervical screening is not a test for cancer. It is a method of preventing cancer by detecting and treating early abnormalities which, if left untreated, could lead to cancer in a woman's cervix (the neck of the womb).
• Early detection and treatment can prevent 75 per cent of cancers developing but like other screening tests, it is not perfect. It may not always detect early cell changes that could lead to cancer.
• It is estimated that 4,500 lives are saved every year in England through cervical screening. The NHS Cervical Screening Programme routinely invites women aged 25 to 49 for a cervical screening test every three years, and those aged 50 – 64 every five years.
Human Papilloma Virus
• The relationship between HPV and cervical cancer has long been established, with this sexually transmitted virus being found in virtually all cervical cancer cases. The relationship between them, however, is complex.
• There are over 100 subtypes of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Most do not cause significant disease in humans. However, some subtypes, notably types 16 and 18, 31 and 33, have been confirmed as agents which cause cervical cancer. “High risk” HPV types have been found in close to 100% of all cervical cancers.
• HPV infection is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases and the majority of sexually active women will come into contact with high risk HPV types at some time in their life. In most women, their bodies' own immune system will get rid of the infection without them ever knowing it was there. Only a minority who are positive for high risk HPV types will develop cervical abnormalities (CIN) which could develop into cervical cancer if left untreated.
The HPV pilot scheme and Sentinel Site Implementation Project
• The HPV pilot scheme, which completed in 2006, concluded that HPV testing could be beneficial for the triage of women with low grade cervical abnormalities and might also improve the wider screening programme. Evaluation of HPV/LBC; Cervical Screening Pilot studies; Report to the Department of Health, Moss S.M.1 , Gray A., Marteau T., Legood R., Henstock E., Maissi is available at http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical/evaluation-hpv-2006feb.pdf
• Based on this evidence, the Sentinel Site Implementation Project was launched in January 2008 to examine the practical implementation of any national roll-out of HPV testing.
• For further information about the NHS Cervical Screening Programme, please visit the website: http://www.cancerscreening.nhs.uk/cervical/index.html
HPV Triage
• ‘HPV triage’ is a process by which samples from women containing cells with low-grade abnormalities (borderline or mild dyskaryosis) are tested for high-risk HPV strains and, if positive, the women are referred to colposcopy. These low grade cervical abnormalities only have a 15 per cent to 20 per cent chance of needing treatment and may clear up on their own but it does mean that women, whose samples are high-risk HPV-negative can be returned to routine recall as they are at negligible risk of developing cervical cancer in their current screening round and have a comparable risk to a woman with an otherwise normal cytology screening result. Consequently this means that women with low grade abnormalities can be more effectively triaged into subgroups that do and do not require colposcopy assessment.