Cervical Cancer Screening Barriers Overcome With New Self-Testing Kit, Expert Says

In the United States, cervical cancer was once one of the deadliest cancers for women, but thanks to prevention and screening, numbers have dropped by more than half since the 1970s. However, due to care barriers such as financial instability, lack of insurance and exam fear, many women do not get screened.

The Teal Wand, the first FDA-approved, self-collection device for cervical cancer screening, is one way these barriers can be breached, according to Rahma S. Mkuu, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor and researcher in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine.

“Research has shown that women who take their own self-sample, those samples are as accurate as a provider's sampling,” Mkuu said in a recent video interview with Managed Healthcare Executive.

Almost all cervical cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Mkuu’s current research focuses on how to improve cervical cancer screening, specifically for rural women, women living in poverty and women who have chronic conditions.

“One way that we are solving this problem is by asking women how we can improve their HPV self-collection experience,” Mkuu said. “We are doing research to make sure that nobody's getting left behind in terms of being able to access and digest the material, to be able to successfully complete a self-sample.”

The American Cancer Society currently recommends that women ages 25 to 65 be tested for HPV every five years.