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Already available in medical analysis laboratories and in certain pharmacies, vaginal self-sampling kits to detect cervical cancer could soon arrive directly at your home. A measure which aims to more easily reach women who are far from the care pathway.
Vaginal self-sampling kits (APV) received directly at home to better detect cervical cancer and reach many more women? This is what could well be put in place in the months to come. In any case, this is the announcement made a few days ago by the SFCPCV (French Society of Colposcopy and Cervico-Vaginal Pathology), during its last congress. What does that mean ? That all women over 30 could become actors in their health, thanks to a simple gesture.
What does self-debit mean?
Concretely, this solution allows women to receive a kit containing a vaginal swab to insert themselves into their vagina, without traveling to see a professional, then to send it to an analysis laboratory in a transport bottle. Laboratory which will look for the presence of a high-risk human papillomavirus – which could potentially cause a precancerous lesion – on this sample using an HPV test.
The process is simple and painless. On the other hand, it does not allow cytology to be carried out. “If the test turns out to be positive, a smear will be planned with a doctor for triage cytology“, specifies Professor Carcopino, president of the SFCPCV.
Likewise, taking a sample at home also means doing it without the information of a health professional, nor the associated prevention advice which is important. But this could well de-dramatize the act for many women.
Reaching female audiences far from the care pathway
However, this at-home HPV test has two strong points:
- Its sensitivity would be comparable to a test carried out for a healthcare professional for the diagnosis of precancerous lesions;
- The coverage rate of cervical screening for women who do not get screened by a health professional would be increased.
Indeed, the latest figures show that 60% of French women participate in cervical cancer screening, which means that 4 out of 10 women do not have access to it. According to INCa national reference system established in 2022, self-sampling would constitute an alternative to cervico-uterine sampling taken by a health professional for the screening of women aged 30 to 65 who never or not sufficiently get screened.
“Of course, these self-tests cannot constitute a single solution: they will not replace the visit to a doctor which allows a more general assessment of many health questions, but they would make it possible to reach women aged 25 to 65 years usually not participating in screening programs” we wrote in Doctissimo last May, when a study demonstrated the benefits of such a measure on the participation rate.
In a few months in your mailbox?
According to Professor Carcopino’s statements, the action is more than ever in the starting blocks. “LVPA should be available within a few months, not for all women, but for those over 30 years of age for whom the probability of having high-risk HPV is lower than for younger people, and for those who did not respond to the first invitation letter sent to them.
It would then be sent by mail to the patient’s home, with a pre-stamped return envelope as can be provided by Hémocult.
As a reminder in France, each year, nearly 3,000 women develop cervical cancer and 1,000 women die from it.