Do-it-yourself cervical cancer screening?
Enlisting patients to self-collect specimens for human papillomavirus testing is an effective way to detect cervical precancer in those who might not otherwise undergo cervical cancer screening.
PRACTICE CHANGER
Have patients who decline a pelvic examination self-collect a specimen for human papillomavirus polymerase chain reaction testing as an alternative to a clinician-collected one.
STRENGTH OF RECOMMENDATION
B: Meta-analysis of observational trials.1
Arbyn M, Smith SB, Temin S, et al; Collaboration on Self-Sampling and HPV Testing. Detecting cervical precancer and reaching under-screened women by using HPV testing on self-samples: updated meta-analyses. BMJ. 2018;363:k4823.
CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION
Availability of PCR-based HPV assays may be an issue
HPV PCR assays may not be available at all laboratories, but signal amplification HPV tests have been shown to be inferior to PCR assays. Physicians will have to confirm with their laboratories whether PCR-based HPV assays are available.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The PURLs Surveillance System was supported in part by Grant Number UL1RR024999 from the National Center For Research Resources, a Clinical Translational Science Award to the University of Chicago. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center For Research Resources or the National Institutes of Health.
