HPV test recommended as primary test in cervical cancer screening

Cancer screening at a reproductive health centre in central Da Nang (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – More than 500 doctors and health officials
participated in a series of recent seminars on updates on national guidelines
on .

“Cervical cancer is a serious disease, but we can prevent it, reduce the
mortality and medical burden for patients, their family and society if the
disease can be detected early,” Assoc Prof Luu Thi Hong, general secretary of
the , said.

The Ministry of Health has issued a recommendation to use HPV as the primary
screening test for cervical cancer to help women prevent the disease and have an
entire healthy and happy life, she said.

“It is also a mission of healthcare authorities, healthcare organisations and
whole community.”

In response to a national action plan for cervical cancer prevention and
control in 2016-25, Roche Vietnam in collaboration with medical organisations
and local and international healthcare experts organised the seminars on “HPV
DNA primary testing: From recommendations to clinical practice” from June 15 to
17 in Hanoi, Da Nang, and HCM City.

Cervical cancer can be prevented if detected early, and HPV testing reveals in
the early stages if someone is at risk.

According to the guidelines issued by the ministry, HPV testing has been
recommended as a in cervical cancer screening since 2016.

An can detect high-risk HPV and help doctors evaluate whether a woman
is at risk of cervical cancer so that she can be monitored and treated
appropriately and in time.

It is estimated that around 500,000 women world-wide are diagnosed with the
disease every year and half of them die, with the vast majority of deaths
occurring in developing countries.

In Vietnam, there are more than 5,000 new cases of cervical cancer annually and
more than 2,500 deaths.

Cervical cancer is the second most common gynaecological cancer and a main
reason is due to persistent infection by the human papilloma virus (HPV).

There are over a hundred different HPV types. Of them, 14 are considered to be
high risk, causing more than 99 percent of cervical cancers. And two of them
posing the highest risk are HPV 16 and HPV 18, which cause more than 70 percent
of cervical cancers.

Women infected with HPV 16 and/or HPV 18 have a 35 percent higher risk of
developing cervical cancer.-VNA