1. Reporting the Potential Benefits of New Technologies for Cervical Cancer Screening
- Author
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Patricia Braly, Ellen E. Sheets, Leslie A. Walton, J. Thomas Cox, Frederick Farber, Walter Kinney, and Thomas V. Sedlacek
- Subjects
Cervical cancer ,Gynecology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pap smears ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,Emerging technologies ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Cervical cytology ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Cervical cancer screening ,Cancer screening ,medicine ,Pap test ,Intensive care medicine ,business - Abstract
The AHCPR released its evidence-based report, “Evaluation of Cervical Cytology” in early 1999. This report represents the most comprehensive analysis available to date of Pap smears and new technologies designed to improve cervical cancer screening. Both the ACOG and the AHCPR have released simplified summaries of the results of the evidence report that may lead to misunderstandings of the potential clinical impact of these new technologies. This report reviews the 4 major statements in these summaries and discusses how they are either incorrect based on the full AHCPR report or may be misinterpreted because their ramifications are not fully discussed. New screening technology has the potential to finally bring the sensitivity of a new Pap test to an acceptable level. The increased sensitivity afforded by these new technologies can reduce negative outcomes at reasonable cost-effectiveness ratios and at an equivalent or superior specificity compared to the conventional Pap smear.
- Published
- 2001
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