Pap Smear News and Research

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The Pap test, also called a Pap smear, checks for changes in the cells of your cervix. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus (womb) that opens into the vagina (birth canal). The Pap test can tell if you have an infection, abnormal (unhealthy) cervical cells, or cervical cancer.

IUDs may protect from cervical cancer

According to the results of an international study, coil contraceptive devices might protect women against developing cervical cancer even though they don't stop the infection that commonly leads to the disease.

14 Sep 2011

Women being screened too often for cervical cancer

Researchers based at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that many primary care doctors would bring women back for cancer screening annually - while recommendations generally call for a three-year wait after normal tests. This translates to higher costs to women and the healthcare system, as well as a risk of unnecessary treatment for false-positive test results - with very little additional cancer-catching benefit say experts. Lead author Katherine Roland said, “There's really no advantage to annual screening compared to screening every two or three years.”

18 Aug 2011

Australian youth mostly ignorant about sexual health

The survey found that most of the young people do not know about Pap smears, sexually transmitted infections and how the contraceptive pill works.

18 Aug 2011

Carcinogenesis is just another form of speciation, proposes new theory

Cancer patients may view their tumors as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

27 Jul 2011

HPV vaccine shows success in young Australian women, study says

"A vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, triggered by the human papillomavirus (HPV), has helped reduce the number of teenage girls developing abnormalities in their cervix by as much as 50 percent in a study in Australia," according to a report published Friday in the Lancet, Reuters reports.

18 Jun 2011

Affordable preventive care options available for all California women

All women, regardless of their health insurance coverage, can find affordable preventive care options in California, according to Californians for Patient Care, an independent nonprofit that connects consumers to affordable care.

7 May 2011

More women using ‘morning after’ pill

Figures have revealed that the rate of women using emergency contraception in 2006-08 more than doubled, compared with the rate in the previous four to six years, before the pills were approved for use without a prescription. This comes from a study from the Guttmacher Institute.

29 Apr 2011

Merck receives Health Canada approval for GARDASIL to treat HPV in women upto age 45

Today, Merck announced that Health Canada has extended the indication of GARDASIL in women up to the age of 45. Merck's HPV vaccine is now approved for girls and women nine through 45 years of age for the prevention of cervical cancer, vulvar and vaginal cancers, precancerous lesions and genital warts caused by the Human Papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16, 18. Previously, GARDASIL was approved in girls and women nine through 26.

26 Apr 2011

Roche's cobas HPV Test receives FDA approval for cervical cancer screening

Roche announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the cobas HPV (Human Papillomavirus) Test which identifies women at highest risk for developing cervical cancer. This test will help physicians make early, more accurate decisions about patient care, which may prevent many women from developing this deadly disease.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 20 Apr 2011

Obama's deficit plan earns raves, pans from editorial boards; more views on abortion and planned parenthood

I've proposed a balanced approach that looks at the entire budget for savings. The third step is to reduce the growth in health care spending in order to strengthen Medicare and Medicaid for future generations. We will get rid of wasteful subsidies and fraud that cost Medicare billions of dollars each year. We'll cut spending on prescription drugs by helping to get generic brands of medicine to market faster.

15 Apr 2011

mtm’s p16 and Ki-67 dual staining test identifies high-grade cervical disease in women with ASC-US and LSIL

mtm laboratories, a privately held diagnostics company developing, manufacturing and globally commercializing in vitro diagnostics for cervical cancer early detection and diagnosis, today announced the publication of a new paper showing that dual staining for p16 and Ki-67 can pinpoint the underlying high-grade cervical disease with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity in women with ASC-US or LSIL cytology results.

31 Mar 2011

Scientist argues cost-effectiveness analysis should play bigger role in American health care system

Cost-effectiveness analysis should play a bigger role in the American health care system, argued a University of Chicago researcher Friday at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

19 Feb 2011

Initiative to eliminate cervical cancer in North Carolina

Patricia Gregory of Cary was only 24 years old when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Now a mother of an 11-year-old daughter, she considers herself blessed to have a child, as cervical cancer can make women unable to bear children.

21 Jan 2011

VEREGEN Ointment added as new therapeutic option in 2010 CDC STD Treatment Guidelines

PharmaDerm, a division of Nycomed US Inc., announced today that VEREGEN (sinecatechins) Ointment, 15%, a topical medication for the treatment of external genital and perianal warts, has been added as a new therapeutic option in the 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Sexually Transmitted Diseases Treatment Guidelines.

6 Jan 2011

Genetic screening for Lynch syndrome as cost-effective as other cancer screening procedures

Myriad Genetics, Inc. today said results from a major health economics study in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), found that screening for inherited gene mutations in the genes that cause a major colorectal cancer syndrome called Lynch Syndrome, is both medically and cost effective.

30 Nov 2010

NIAID scientists confirm antiviral activity of two lead compounds against HPV

Tamir Biotechnology, Inc. announced today that scientists supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) reported test results confirming two of our lead compounds showed excellent in vitro antiviral activity and no cellular toxicity at dose levels tested for Human Papillomavirus (HPV).

30 Nov 2010

Annual conventional Pap smear is cost effective to reduce cancer incidence and mortality

A study of the options for reducing cancer incidence and mortality among women who have been treated for precancerous cervical lesions found that an annual conventional Pap smear is a cost effective strategy.

21 Oct 2010

Scientists identify mechanism that regulate nuclear size

Size matters when it comes to the nucleus of a cell, and now scientists have discovered the signals that control how big the nucleus gets. Nuclear size varies not only among different species, but also in different types of cells in the same species and at different times during development. In addition, cancer cells are known to develop larger nuclei as they become more malignant. Screening for cervical cancer, for example, involves looking for grossly distorted nuclei in cervical cells collected during a Pap smear.

15 Oct 2010

Cancer patients getting unnecessary tests: Study

US researchers revealed that many cancer patients with only a few years to live often continue to get routine mammograms or blood tests for prostate cancer even though they are not likely to live long enough to benefit from them. This not only wastes money but also exposes patients to unnecessary worry and distress.

12 Oct 2010

Optical technology shows potential for prescreening patients at high risk for lung cancer

Researchers from Northwestern University and NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) have developed a method to detect early signs of lung cancer by examining cheek cells in humans using pioneering biophotonics technology.

6 Oct 2010