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HPV Self-Collection: Expanding Access to Cervical Cancer Screening

November 25, 2024
 

HPV self-collection makes it easier for women to access cervical cancer screening

HPV self-collection offers an alternative to women and people with a cervix when more traditional screening options don’t work for them. Allowing women to collect samples in private in a healthcare setting can increase access for women who have physical, emotional and other barriers to screening.

50 percent of all U.S. cervical cancer patients are underscreened or have never been screened
91% 5-year survival rate when cervical cancer is detected early

More than half of all U.S. cervical cancer patients are underscreened,1 which makes reducing barriers and increasing access to screenings crucial to helping to eliminate the deadly disease. Detection during screening is particularly important to improve patient outcomes. When cervical cancer is detected at an early stage, the five-year survival rate for women is 91%.2

What normally happens during cervical cancer screening?

Usually, during a regularly scheduled visit to their clinician’s office, women place their feet in stirrups or on a table so that the clinician can insert a speculum in the cervix to obtain cervical cells.

Laboratorians then examine those cells smeared on a slide through a microscope to determine if they are abnormal, generally known as a Pap test. Another test, often performed at the same time using the same sample, is processed through an automated molecular instrument to provide information about whether women are positive for certain types of HPV, as they cause almost all cervical cancer. Sometimes women get tested only for HPV, as it is better at preventing cervical cancers than a Pap test that is done alone.3 If women test positive for high-risk HPV, clinicians may follow up with dual-stain cytology or colposcopy for further evaluation.
 

Why doesn't this approach work for everyone?

There are many reasons a clinician-collected sample doesn’t work for everyone and many of them are about access. Some women live far away from clinicians who conduct these exams or they don’t have access to transportation to take them there. Some women may be less trusting of clinicians and medicine in general. 

Because the process involves women’s intimate areas, it may cause some women embarrassment or it may conflict with their cultural beliefs. Others may have traumatic sexual experiences that prevent them from getting screened. Some women also find the process physically uncomfortable.

Have more questions about HPV self-collection?

Have more questions about HPV self-collection?

No. HPV self-collection is intended for women and people with a cervix who face barriers to traditional, clinician-collected screening. Women who don’t face these barriers and are able to see their clinician and obtain clinician-sampling should continue to do so.

Women collect their own vaginal sample in private in a healthcare setting. They can collect the samples with different types of devices, such as one that looks like a long cotton swab or another that has long, flexible bristles. Women insert the device about three inches into their vagina and follow simple directions from the packaging or from someone who is trained in the collection.

HPV self-collection is FDA approved in a healthcare setting. This means that women, with a clinician’s order, have the opportunity to take their own sample from different environments, such as a mobile clinic, laboratory patient service center, urgent care clinic, retail care clinic, emergency department or clinician’s office. This way, the test can be brought closer to the patient.

The trained personnel would immediately take the sample and preserve it in a solution that is then brought to the lab under controlled conditions for testing. The vaginal sample is then analyzed with the cobas HPV test on a cobas® 4800/5800/6800/8800 system. The test can help determine if a woman has an HPV genotype that is at higher risk for cervical cancer and if further tests are needed.

The same clinicians who can order the HPV test used in the clinician-collected samples can also issue the order for the HPV self-collected test.

The test used in clinician collection is the same as in self collection – the cobas HPV test processed on a cobas® 4800/5800/6800/8800 system. The only thing that changes is who is gathering the sample. A clinician sample is pulling cervical cells, while a self-collected sample will have more vaginal cells.

Self-samples collected by women using the Evalyn brush and processed on the cobas® 5800/6800/8800 systems. produce the same results for HPV 16 and 18, which are the types of HPV most at risk of causing cervical cancer. The Copan swab produces the same results in clinician and self-collected samples 93% of the time.

Results depend on the tool used to collect the sample, the type of HPV collected and which instrument is used to process the sample.

They should talk to their clinicians about how they can get the test.

How do clinicians and labs get more information about providing access to HPV self-collection tests?
Learn more
Sources
  1. National Cancer Institute. Last accessed November 22, 2024.
  2. National Cancer Institute. Last accessed, October 2, 2024.
  3. American Cancer Society. Last accessed, November 4, 2024. 

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