American Cancer Society Announces New HPV Screening Guidelines
The American Cancer Society (ACS) announced new guidelines for HPV screening. The recommendations include phasing out the pap test and transitioning to a less frequent schedule. The ACS calls for medical providers to administer primary HPV testing only, every 5 years but acknowledges that conducting the pap test alone every 3 years or HPV/Pap co-testing every 5 years is acceptable while some laboratories develop the ability to perform primary HPV testing. Another important change in the guidelines is that testing should start at age 25 instead of age 21. The organization projects that these updated protocols will “prevent 13% more cervical cancers and 7% more cervical cancer deaths than the previously recommended strategy”.
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