THE END OF SMEAR TESTING
DIY home urine sample kit to revolutionise cervical cancer screening
SMEAR tests could be replaced by a home urine check for cervical cancer.
Scientists hope it will lead to more women getting screened after numbers fell to their lowest since 1997, thought to be due to the difficult nature of smears.
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust said of the DIY check: “This could be a game-changer.”
WITH cervical cancer screening at an all-time low, experts hope the introduction of a simple home urine test could boost the number of women being checked and save many more lives.
A study found the DIY test is 100% accurate and there is no reason why it cannot be rolled out immediately, even being on the NHS within two to three years.
Smear test take-up is the lowest since records began 21 years ago. Screening plummeted from a peak after former reality TV star Jade Goody lost her high-profile battle with the disease in 2009.
Experts believe the reason is many women find the invasive check unpleasant and embarrassing, despite early detection increasing their chances of survival from a disease that kills almost 1,000 women a year.
Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust chief executive Robert Music said the new test “could be a game-changer”.
He added: “It could mean those requiring treatment are identified faster and reduce the number of women having to go for potentially unnecessary investigations at colposcopy. This would save the NHS precious funds.
“It is vital that further research is conducted on larger groups of women. However, the findings are exciting and could mean that new methods for cervical screening are getting closer to reality.
“For women who find the current methods of cervical screening difficult, including those with a physical disability or who have experienced trauma, it could mean they can access screening in a far more acceptable way.”
Dr Belinda Nedjai developed the urine test with a team at Queen Mary University in London. She said: “In the longer term, self-sampling could become the standard method for all screening tests. The study indicated that women much preferred doing a test at home than attending a doctor’s surgery. We expect this test to improve acceptance rates for cervical cancer screening, as well as reducing costs to health services.”
The urine test, unveiled at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Glasgow, was found to be 100% accurate at detecting invasive cervical cancer and 93% accurate at detecting pre-cancerous cells.
It detects a chemical change called DNA methylation and can pick up the four versions of the human papillomavirus – HPV – most likely to lead to the disease.
All women aged 24 to 64 are invited for a test. But just 71.4% in England are attending, the lowest since 1997, and a fall from 75.7% in 2011. When Jade was diagnosed as terminally ill aged 27, around half a million extra tests were booked. More than 3,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed each year.
The study showed women much preferred doing a test at home than at the doctor’s
DR BELINDA NEDJAI OF QUEEN MARY UNIVERSITY IN LONDON
HOME urine sample kits could be life savers if they replace cervical cancer smear tests for women.
The DIY packs would boost user rates and avoid the current method, which might be putting some women off.
Britain is a world leader in medical research and the team at Queen Mary University of London deserve our encouragement.
Detecting cancers early is key to beating the disease and anything which encourages testing is a worthy victory.