A new alternative to Pap smears

Image credit: accuray via Unsplash

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved an option for patients to collect their own vaginal samples for cervical cancer screenings, offering an alternative to traditional HPV tests or Pap smears, which require a speculum. Similar to self-collection of urine samples, patients can now collect their own vaginal samples in health-care settings like a doctor's office, urgent care, or pharmacy clinic. The hope is that providing a self-collection method will make screening more accessible, encouraging more women to get screened and improving early detection of cervical cancer.

Source

Subramaniam A, Fauci JM, Schneider KE, Whitworth JM, Erickson BK, Kim K, Huh WK. Invasive cervical cancer and screening: what are the rates of unscreened and underscreened women in the modern era? J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2011 Apr;15(2):110-3. doi: 10.1097/LGT.0b013e3181f515a2. PMID: 21263352; PMCID: PMC4465558.

Additional Reading

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/05/health/cervical-cancer-screening-self-collection-kits/index.html#:~:text=More-,Why%20your%20next%20trip%20to%20the%20gyno%20might%20be%20different,an%20alternative%20to%20Pap%20smears&text=Using%20a%20six%2Dinch%20swab,a%20self%2Dcollection%20HPV%20test.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/well/pap-smear-cervical-cancer-test-alternative.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pap-smear-alternatives-what-to-know/