Home HPV Test Shows Promise in Study

A do-it-yourself home test may help to detect cervical cancer for women with little access to medical care, a new study finds. The study included nearly 20,000 women in Mexico. They were randomly divided into two groups. One group got test kits for human papilloma virus (HPV). This virus causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. At home, each woman used a special brush to collect cells inside the vagina. A lab checked the sample for HPV. Women in the other group got Pap smears in a clinic. This test looks at cells scraped from the cervix. Both groups had follow-up tests if needed. Compared with the Pap test, the HPV test helped to find more than 3 times as many pre-cancers and 4 times as many cancers. The HPV test also led to far more “false positive” results than the Pap smear. These women needed more tests but did not have cancer or pre-cancer.