Publication points to increasing use of HPV testing in cervical cancer screening.

2004 MAR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The first consensus guidance on the most effective way to use HPV DNA testing for cervical cancer screening has been published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology, announced Digene Corp. (DIGE).

The guidance recognizes that the test for high-risk types of human papillomavirus (HPV) - the primary cause of cervical cancer - can identify more women with pre-cancerous cell changes than a single Pap test. In addition, among its conclusions is a recommendation for how to manage women with conflicting test results - when HPV is present, but the Pap test is normal.

The consensus document was developed by representatives from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, and the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, to provide "interim guidance for clinicians and patients on the use of HPV DNA testing, which has been recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an adjunct to cytology [Pap testing] for cervical cancer screening." Digene markets the only FDA- approved HPV DNA test, which is sold under the brand name DNAwithPap.

"The use of HPV testing for routine screening is the first significant expansion in the tools available to prevent cervical cancer since the Pap test was first introduced in 1949," noted J. Thomas Cox, MD, one of the authors of the consensus publication and a gynecologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

"The very high sensitivity of the two tests combined provides an extremely high level of reassurance that cervical cancer is not likely to be present, nor likely to develop over the next few years. However, we need to help physicians, and women, know how to use it effectively. Although additional research is needed in some areas to ...