In a study in the New England Journal of Medicine researchers from McGill University have learned that a screening test for the Human Papillomavirus HPV is far more accurate in detecting cervical cancer than a Pap Test.The study called the Canadian Cervical Cancer Screening Trial led by Dr. Eduardo Franco, medical director of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology at McGill's Faculty of Medicine, concluded that the HPV test's ability to accurately detect pre-cancerous lesions without generating false negatives, was 94.6% which compares to 55.4% for the Pap Test.
The randomized controlled study followed 10,154 Women aged 30-69 in Montreal and St. John's Newfoundland between 2002-2005
Researchers gave half the Women a Pap Test the other half the new HPV Test and discovered that the HPV Test sensitivity was 40% greater than a Pap Test.
