A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed testing for the human papillomavirus (PV) may be a way to screen for cervical cancer.
The study, conducted by the National Cancer Institute, indicated the HPV test detected nearly 90 percent of the precancerous high-grade lesions and all cancer cases in the test population.When detected at an early state, cervical cancer is treatable and has a five-year survival rate of 91 percent.
An estimated 15,000 American women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year. Of that number, nearly one-third die from the disease. More than 10 million American women are infected with high-risk sexually-transmitted HPV. While most cases resolve themselves, some can progress to cervical cancer.