NYT: DNA Test Outperforms Pap Smear

[Barack_America]

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
Published: April 6, 2009

A new DNA test for the virus that causes cervical cancer does so much better than current methods that some gynecologists hope it will eventually replace the Pap smear in wealthy countries and cruder tests in poor ones.

Not only could the new test for human papillomavirus, or HPV, save lives; scientists say that women over 30 could drop annual Pap smears and instead have the DNA test just once every 3, 5 or even 10 years, depending on which expert is asked.

Their optimism is based on an eight-year study of 130,000 women in India financed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine. It is the first to show that a single screening with the DNA test beats all other methods at preventing advanced cancer and death...

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/health/07virus.html?em

[Betty]

1. sounds good to me

no more pap smears.

[enlightenment]

2. Interesting.

But what if I don' WANT to give my DNA out - particularly when it's health related?

[Barack_America]

3. The test actually looks for the presence of virus DNA.

And, unfortunately, we give our DNA out every time we have our cholesterol checked, etc.

Ordinary tests potentially give doctors tremendous amounts of information about their patients, which is why we really have to keep on top of our bioethics research and recommendations.

[enlightenment]

4. I know - it just hit my tin foil hat button . . .

It sounds very useful for third-world countries, but for the US I think they need to get the yearly testing regimen mindset taken care of first. I had a hysterectomy in 1986 and was told that I'd only need a pap every three years after that. Until I read the article JUST NOW I did not know that was considered standard for any woman (parts or no) who had a negative screening. They still push the yearly pap everywhere and it's not just the older doctors doing it.

If doctors are still stuck with the idea that women need to be tested annually, they will push this test (which does require a scraping, just like a pap) every year, too. No difference there.

[juno jones]

5. How much more is it going to cost?

Bottom line for the uninsured.

[Barack_America]

6. It costs less.

Due to not needing an MD to interpret the results. As little as $5.

This was mentioned in the article as a key in its value for developing countries.

[semillama]

7. outperform Pat Smear? I think not.

oh, wait...