Pap Smear Test and Other Alternatives

Pap smear test is a must for all the women as it is the ticket…

Pap smear test is a must for all the women as it is the ticket to a safe and alert life. It is a medical procedure wherein the cells or tissues from the opening of the cervix are collected for a microscopic examination to detect cervical cancer.
There have been many alternatives to pap smear testing. A genetic HPV test is an option but it has its downsides like it is more expensive than the regular pap smear and it tests only for HPV leaving out the cancerous and pre-cancerous cells. Mostly, all the sexually active women have HPV infection at some point in their life but it clears up on its own and hence HPV test would also need further follow-up tests for cervical Type Of Medicine lesions. It is said that, with new technologies there will be medical products which will help in simple, self-administered tests. The smear test also has accuracy problems as there have been cases where the Papanicolaou reports have been normal for years but women still suffered from cervical cancer. As Pap smear testing is not widely available, a genetic test for HPV is advocated in the developing countries.
The other common alternative to the conventional pap smear test is the liquid-based cytology, which has been reviewed as no better than Papanicolaou for the detection of cervical cancer precursors. In liquid-based cytology, the cervical cells are Military Diet Reviews collected with a traditional sampling device and rinsed into a vial with preservation solution, rather than being smeared on a slide. Many trials demonstrated that this method is neither more specific, nor more sensitive than the pap smear.
Another alternative which terms Papanicolaou as an outdated procedure, is the CSA blood test which is more accurate, non-invasive and overall a better alternative. CSA is the Cervical Specific Antigen which is the top medical news in cancer diagnostics. This method talks about drastic increase in the early detection of cervical cancer and eradication of tumor before the cancer metastasizes and thus save lives. It would be cost-effective and presently, it is the only test which helps to monitor therapy efficacy. The working of this test is that it detects the molecule that participates in the growth of cervical cancer as those patients have relatively higher numbers. Medical research indicates that molecular levels drop to near normal range after therapy until there is recurrent disease or metastasis. This test can replace pap smear as a screening tool in future as it is gaining recognition in the laboratory industry and medical community. The unfortunate areas where Papanicolaou is unavailable or unacceptable, CSA could be the life-saver.
With the advancing technologies, Papanicolaou test would soon be substituted by more accessible and easier techniques.