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Test can detect cancer risk far earlier than the smear: New procedure could help save thousands of young women's lives

A new check for cervical cancer is far more effective than the traditional smear test, say doctors. 

Thousands of young women’s lives could be saved by the new procedure.

Early trials have shown it detects affected cells before they are able to develop into cancer.

A light micrograph showing cervical cancer cells. Early trials have shown a new test can detect affected cells before they develop into cancer

Unlike the current smear test, women would be able to carry out the procedure in their own homes, saving themselves the embarrassment of having it done at a surgery or hospital.

The new test costs £30 but researchers believe the price would be reduced considerably if it was rolled out across the NHS.

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They also calculate it would save the health service £50million a year because women would need to have the test less frequently than smears, which are carried out every three to five years.

Cervical cancer most commonly affects women aged between 25 and 50 and there are about 2,800 cases every year.

Women would provide a sample similar to a smear test which is then sent to a lab

But there are often no symptoms early on and in many cases the illness is only picked up in the advanced stages when it may be too difficult to treat.

Last year the cancer caused 936 deaths and hundreds of other women had to have chemotherapy and surgery for late-stage tumours which may have left them infertile.

The do-it-yourself test detects the human papilloma virus (HPV) which causes tumours.

Women would provide a sample – similar to a smear – which is then sent to a lab.

If they are found to have the virus, they would be invited back for more frequent screening every year or 18 months.

Those who didn’t have the virus would not have to have another test for six years.

Crucially, the test can also pick up pre-cancerous tumours which are often not detected by smears. Women would then be able to have surgery to remove these growths before they developed into cancer.

Researchers from Queen Mary, University of London calculate that the procedure – known as primary HPV testing – could save the lives of 150 women a year.

They looked at the records of 8,750 women aged 25-64 diagnosed with cervical cancer between 2007 and 2012.

Around 40 per cent had undergone a smear test within the previous six years which had come back clear.

The researchers then calculated how many cancers could have been avoided had women been given the new test.

They believe it would prevent a third of cervical cancers – 1,000 a year – and at least 150 deaths.

Professor Peter Sasieni, who carried out the study, said: ‘We are talking about the lives of young women here. Women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and in rare cases their 20s.

‘Many are mothers with young children, somebody’s wife or daughter. 

‘We cannot delay. Over a decade that is 1,500 deaths.’

He added: ‘Cervical cancer screening is already hugely effective but our study shows how much more effective it could be by swapping to primary HPV testing. Not only would introducing primary HPV testing prevent more cases of cancer, it would also mean women who tested negative wouldn’t need to be checked as often.’

The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Screening today,  were presented at the National Cancer Intelligence Network Conference in Brighton.

A pilot of the new test was launched last month and over the next year 100,000 will be invited to have the procedure at centres in Liverpool, north-west London, Sheffield, Bristol and Norwich.

The results will be published next year. If it proves a success, the test will be available on the NHS, although the approval process may take three or four years. 

It would be offered to women aged 25-64, the same group who undergo the current smear tests.Although women will be encouraged to have the procedure done at a surgery or hospital, they could provide samples they take themselves at home.

Only this week NHS figures revealed that a third of women in their late twenties were ignoring doctors’ advice to come forward for smear tests.



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