ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120047
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Gynecologists are getting a new way to spot problems when they perform Pap smears to check women for cervical cancer - by inserting a special light bar to illuminate the cervix.
Called Speculoscopy, the light-enhanced Pap smear lets doctors see into the cervix to diagnose more abnormalities than the regular Pap smear can detect alone.
``We're enhancing the ability of the Pap smear to pick things up ... before they develop into a serious problem,'' explained Dr. Steven A. Vasilev, gynecologic oncology director at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, Calif.
``It is simple, it's quick and it doesn't add much to the cost'' of a standard Pap smear, he added.
The Food and Drug Administration approved the Speculoscopy system last month, and it was unveiled Thursday by Trylon Corp., the manufacturer. Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. will sell the device beginning in about a week. It will add $25 to the cost of a regular Pap.
Some 15,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year and about 4,800 die. About 50 million Pap smears are performed each year to try to detect cervical cancer early enough to cure - and the tests often find precancerous changes in cells that haven't had time to turn into a tumor.
Speculoscopy adds a visual exam to help find those precancerous changes.
In a Pap smear, doctors scrape cells off the cervix and send them to a laboratory to be examined for abnormalities.
For Speculoscopy, doctors attach a tiny light bar to the device that holds open the cervix during the Pap. This Speculite contains chemicals that interact to shine a special wavelength of light. It's similar to the toy light wands children wave at Halloween.
After the Pap is done, the doctor swabs vinegar in the vagina, shines the Speculite onto the cervix and peers inside through a magnifying glass. The combination of chemical light and vinegar makes normal cells look blue and possibly abnormal ones look white.
One study found the Pap alone detected 31 percent of women's early precancerous cell changes, while Pap plus Speculoscopy found 83 percent.
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