Middle-age Women can Choose Pap smear or HPV Test for Cancer Screening !

Middle-aged women can choose which test to undergo for cervical cancer screening, according to a draft recommendation from an influential group backed by the U.S. government.

Women ages 30 to 65 can choose to receive a Pap test every three years or a human papillomavirus (HPV) test every five years, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The group did not previously recommend HPV testing without a Pap test.

"Women and providers should continue to recognize that cervical cancer is a serious disease that can be prevented," said Dr. Maureen Phipps, a member of the USPTF.

"Women who can be identified early through screening can have effective treatment for cervical cancer and go on to lead robust lives," said Phipps, who is also chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Cervical cancer was once a leading cause of cancer death for women in the U.S., but the death rate has been cut in half thanks mostly to screening, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS).

Read more: Middle-age Women can Choose Pap smear or HPV Test for Cancer Screening !

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Slideshow: 10 signs of cervical cancer you need to know about

Source: MSN Health

Non-Invasive Alternative To Amniocentesis? Experimental Test May Let Screen For Genetic Defects 5 Weeks Into Pregnancy

An experimental test that relies on an old-fashioned screening exam — the pap smear — may someday allow doctors to easily detect birth defects sooner than ever.

On Tuesday, Wayne State University (WSU) researchers revealed the latest encouraging findings on their creation, called “Trophoblast Retrieval and Isolation from the Cervix,” or TRIC for short. Using a pap smear, they scraped trophoblasts — the cells that eventually help form a fetus’ placenta — from pregnant women’s cervixes and genetically sequenced the fetal DNA found inside with next generation technology. They then compared these samples to those obtained from the mother, placenta, and fetus via conventional means.

Not only were the TRIC samples mostly made out of fetal DNA, indicating the low risk of contamination, but they matched up perfectly with the other fetal samples, validating the test’s overall accuracy. Even more importantly, the samples were taken as early as 5 weeks into pregnancy, blowing past the limit of other, invasive screening tests, such as amniocentesis, which can only be given starting at the end of the first trimester, 14 to 16 weeks in.

Researchers have developed a test that may be able to screen for birth defects
as early as five weeks into pregnancy.

Read more: Non-Invasive Alternative To Amniocentesis? Experimental Test May Let Screen For Genetic Defects 5 Weeks Into Pregnancy

Source: MedicalNewsToday

How to Reduce Your Risk for Cervical Cancer?

The Latest Information on Vaccines, Tests and Treatments

Find out what you can do to reduce your risk for cervical cancer and whether a diagnosis affects fertility as a top expert discusses advances in treatment…

Cervical cancer, once the leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. women, is no longer so common. The number of cases has plunged 74% in the past four decades. And the rate of new diagnoses is still dropping 4% each year.

The dramatic turnaround is thanks to Pap smears, which can detect precancerous cells so that they can be treated and cured, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Yet doctors still can’t agree on when you should get your first Pap test, how often you should have it and whether that screening should now be replaced by a human papillomavirus (HPV) screening test. Some experts claim that the new test, recently approved by the FDA, can catch more women at risk for cervical cancer, and earlier, than the Pap smear.

Read more: How to Reduce Your Risk for Cervical Cancer?

Source: lifescript