Cervical Screening Specialist in Kolkata, India

Cervical Screening

The Well Woman Screen aims to offer core assessment of the health and well being of our patients. We have chosen 4 areas of important health checks which includes screening for cervical cancer and ovarian cancer, and advice on contraception and hormone therapy in menopause.

• Cervical Screening
• Ovarian Cancer Screening
• Advice on Contraception
• Menopause and Hormone Therapy

Cervical screening aims to identify at risk women and to prevent cancer of the neck of the womb (cervix) by detecting and treating early abnormalities. If these abnormalities remain undetected they could lead to cervical cancer over a period of time.

Cervical screening tests do not give a diagnosis but indicate risk. Regular screening reduces the risk of cervical cancer by 90%. Cervical screening is performed by taking scrapings from the neck of the womb using a soft brush and collecting these scrapings in either of two liquid media, Thinprep or Sureprep. This method of screening called LBC (liquid based cytology) has now completely replaced the old technique of using a wooden spatula and smearing the scrapings on a glass slide. LBC is more accurate with lower false negative results. It also gives the additional benefit of testing for human papilloma virus (HPV) and the type.

The procedure is not painful, but may be uncomfortable.

Screening on the NHS starts at 25 by invitation, and is then at 3 yearly intervals between the years of 25 to 49 and 5 yearly from age 50 to 64 (NHS cervical screening programme).

Earlier and more frequent screening is available in the private sector, as is the option of HPV testing and typing. There are about 100 types of wart viruses, of which types 16, 18, 31, 33 and 45 are more associated with cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia (CIN) and invasive cancer.

On detection of abnormal cells, referral for colposcopy would become necessary. creening is looking for cancer before appearance of any symptoms and can help detect and treat cancer at an early stage. Often by the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to spread, and treatment becomes much more difficult.

For any screening to be effective, there must be an accurate test to use. And the test must be reliable enough to detect cancer or pre-cancer and also must not give false positive results in those who do not have cancer.

At the moment, there is no screening test that is accurate and reliable enough to detect ovarian cancer in the general population. But there are clinical trials going on looking into screening (eg UKCTOCS), and we will need to await the results of these trials.

Tests that are being studied as screening methods for detecting ovarian cancer in the general population are:
Transvaginal ultrasound of the ovaries to look for ovarian size and any cysts CA125 measurement in the blood. CA125 is a protein that is found in high amounts in the blood of patients with certain types of cancer including ovarian cancer. CA125 is also used in monitoring response of cancer to treatment.

Screening Women at Higher Risk -
Higher than average risk means having 2 or more relatives on the same side of the family diagnosed with ovarian cancer or breast cancer at a young age. Screening using transvaginal ultrasound and blood tests for CA125 is indicated in these high risk women. However, these screening tests have not been fully evaluated yet, and there is no guarantee that they will pick up every case of early ovarian cancer.