THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606010046
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATRICIA ANSTETT, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
LENGTH: 32 lines
A NEW PAP TEST method significantly improves the accuracy of the screening test for cervical cancer, company and federal health officials say.
The ThinPrep Pap test is ``an important tool to improve screening for cancer of the cervix and should save millions in testing and cancer treatment costs,'' Dr. Thomas Sedlacek, chairman of gynecology and oncology at the Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia, said last week.
ThinPrep was approved in May by the federal Food and Drug Administration and will be widely available beginning next year.
The Pap smear has reduced the incidence of cervical cancer by 70 percent since its introduction 50 years ago. But up to 40 percent of the time, it misses precancerous conditions or, in rare cases, even cancer.
In a Pap smear, a swab is used to scrape some cells from the cervix, in the uterus. The new method rinses the collected cells off the swab into a preservative solution before they are put on a slide and sent to a lab for reading. More cells are preserved in better condition, and slides are more uniformly prepared.
The new test will cost $35 to $40, compared with $15 to $20 now, but it is expected to save millions of dollars associated with repeated tests or erroneous results.
KEYWORDS: PAP SMEAR PAP TEST by CNB