The British hospital deepens prevention of cervical cancer

The British Hospital deepens prevention of cervical cancer

As part of its ongoing policy of prevention and health education, the British Hospital will add to the promotion of vaccination against HPV (human papillomavirus) the performance of a specific test instead of the PAP as recommended by international guidelines and will soon be required by the Ministry of Public Health in our country.

Measures to prevent cervical cancer are essential at different levels of life since it has been proven that their proper implementation would almost eliminate this type of cancer, one of the main public health problems worldwide and the second most frequent gynecological cancer in our country behind breast cancer.

Pioneer in the matter, the British Hospital  some time ago began a campaign to encourage vaccination against HPV, mainly in adolescents but also in women and men up to 26 years of age. It promotes primary prevention through vaccination against the HPV virus before the age of 15, the optimal time to receive it, as well as its administration to those between 16 and 26 years old who have not received it since benefits have also been demonstrated in this age group, in line with the latest recommendations of the World Health Organization.

The British Hospital added to this the change from PAP to HPV test as a secondary prevention measure, a change that will soon be requested by the MSP to all health institutions.

The implementation of this change meant many advantages for patients in terms of prevention, said Dr. Luciana Bertolino, Associate Professor of Gynecological Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of the Udelar, president of the Society of Pathology of the Lower Genital Tract, Cytology and Colposcopy of Uruguay and a referent of the British Hospital in the specialty.

However, the specialist called the attention to the need for women to be “adequately informed regarding the high frequency of this virus, even if all previous studies have been negative” and to know “that having the virus does not imply having a lesión and much less cancer.”

“It only implies that they have a higher risk of presenting a lesion in the future and that requires closer monitoring,” which shows one of the main advantages of its implementation such as monitoring and eventual detection of lesions.

Bertolino warned that the change in methodology can generate “some stress” but maintained that the benefits will be much greater in terms of prevention and timely detection of HPV. It can be estimated that about 15% of women who take the test will test positive and that “the majority will eliminate the virus spontaneously,” she said.

She reminded that if the HPV test is negative, the study must be repeated in 5 years, which does not imply stopping the annual gynecological check-up, where the doctor will assess, based on the questioning and physical examination whether it is necessary to perform this or other studies before this period.

The British Hospital representative in the field insisted that CCU is a preventable cancer and pointed out that the test is fast, simple and painless.

“From the Hospital we promote a culture of prevention and health education within which we adopt criteria, guidelines and procedures that benefit our patients. In this case, the fact that the early detection of HPV is essential for the prevention of CCU, which has a high incidence in our population explains the change from PAP to HPV test,” mentioned Bertolino.