A study says that cervical cancer screening using liquid-based cytology is as sensitive as conventional cytology. HPV prevalence rate falls with age. Screening those who are at higher risk for cervical cancer or who have not been adequately screened should be the main focus.

Team@CMHF

Cervical cancer screening using liquid-based cytology is as sensitive as conventional cytology, a systematic review of the recent literature determined.

The highest sensitivities of the HPV test and cytology for CIN2+ lesions in these studies were 98% and 65%, respectively.

However, the one-time HPV test was less specific for detecting both grades of CIN lesions than cytology by three to five percentage points.
Four diagnostic accuracy studies evaluated using both the HPV test plus cytology, and found that the combination was more sensitive than cytology without the HPV test, but again was less specific.

They also observed that HPV screening seems “very promising,” as HPV infection is “a necessary, although not sufficient, cause of almost all cases of cervical cancer.

Recommendation of initiating screening at age 21 should be continued, because invasive disease is very uncommon among younger women.
As to when screening could be discontinued, they noted that international recommendations range from 59 to 70 years.

Reference: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Oncology/OtherCancers/29086?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&eun=g333280d0r&userid=333280&email=drchasrani@cmhs.in