HPV Test Catching On as the More Definitive Cervical Cancer Screening
9/20/2003 Associated Press A more definitive cervical cancer-screening test that helps reduce uncertainty in diagnosing the disease is gaining support from doctors and health insurers. Aetna, the nation's largest health insurer, on Wednesday became the latest plan to cover the new DNA test that checks for the presence of a virus that studies show causes more than 99 percent of cervical cancers. The test is used when a Pap smear proves inconclusive, which happens about 5 percent of the time. Kaiser Permanente, United Healthcare and most Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans already cover the test for human papillomavirus, or HPV, according to the test's maker, Digene Corp. of Gaithersburg, Maryland. About 400,000 U.S. women had the HPV test in the past year, a Digene spokeswoman said. If the test shows no sign of HPV, a woman is assured she doesn't have cancer. If the HPV virus present, there is a greater likelihood the woman has cancer and she is sent for additional testing which most likely include a biopsy. ``Aetna is a bellwether for the adoption of HPV testing as a standard of care in cervical cancer screening,'' said Evan Jones, Chairman and CEO of Digene Corporation. About 50 million Pap smears are performed annually in the United States. Before the HPV test was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, women who had an inconclusive Pap test would have to get another Pap test or an outpatient procedure that would likely include a biopsy. The results [...]