Like the Pap test, it consists of a simple swab taken during a pelvic exam.
For 50 years, the Pap test has been the gold standard for detecting cervical cancer.
The HPV test resulted in more false-positives than the Pap test, it is not widely available yet and it may not be covered by insurance.
Similarly, a small but statistically significant downward trend of 3.3% was observed in the rate of women who reported getting a Pap test within the last three years.
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Apart from the silliness, there is a great deal of useful health advice here, with articles on everything from what to do if your PAP smear test comes back "abnormal" to the health benefits of fennel.
Researchers are trying to retool the Pap, a test for cervical cancer that millions of women get, so that it could spot early signs of other gynecologic cancers, too.
Kaiser Permanente, a large HMO based in California, has found that giving both the Pap and the HPV test to women 30 and older helps detect more cases of precancerous disease.
It developed a method to rapidly screen the Pap samples for those mutations using standard genetics equipment that Diaz said wouldn't add much to the cost of a Pap-plus-HPV test.
Unlike the Pap, it is an objective test read by a machine and results in a positive or negative result.
Professor Kimler said the test was similar to the Pap smear, which is used to detect the early signs of cervical cancer.
Even though her Pap tests had come back normal, McKinney's HPV test was positive.
Cervical polyps are typically removed only if they are large, causing irregular bleeding, or if there is an abnormal Pap smear or a persistently positive HPV (human papillomavirus) test.
It suggests the test is far more likely to give 'false-positive' readings from cervical, or Pap, tests, than pick up early signs of cancer.
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