Cervical Cancer Vaccine May Prevent Precancerous Changes on the Cervix

An article published in the May 10th New England Journal of Medicine showed that young women not infected with Human Papilloma Virus HPV 16 and 18 who were vaccinated with the Gardasil vaccine had a lower occurrence of the high grade precancerous diseases on the cervix than those who were vaccinated with placebo.

The study was done on 12,167 women aged 15-26 years who had not been previously infected with the HPV. Thus the vaccine, if given to young women who have not already been exposed to the Human Papilloma Virus, is effective in preventing cervical dysplasia in women that will be apparent within years rather than decades.

"Human papillomavirus types 16 (HPV-16) and 18 (HPV-18) cause approximately 70% of cervical cancers worldwide,"

Laura A. Koutsky, PhD, from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues from the FUTURE II study group.

Reference:N Engl J Med. 2007;356:1915-1917.

Cancer Of The Ovary-Screening Test for Women Is In The Horizon

Ovarian cancer is one of the most difficult cancers to diagnose in its early stages. It does not have any specific symptoms and most patients are diagnosed in the advanced stages when the results of treatment are poor. On the other hand when they are diagnosed in its early stage the five year survival rate is about 90% as compared to 20% in the late stage.

Up till now there have not been any significant screening tests such as Pap smear to screen for cervical cancer. According to Alisa Leisa, MD of Yale University, a highly sensitive blood test comprising of six biological markers can be used to detect the disease in its early stages. The positive predictive value is 93% in the test population and a negative predictive value of 99.2%. Yale University is currently enrolling women at high risk of ovarian cancer and healthy controls.