News
Cervical self-sampling for under-screened women now available
Victoria’s VCS Pathology has been accredited for testing of self-collected samples from eligible women under the renewed National Cervical Screening Program.
VCS Pathology Executive Director, Associate Professor Marion Saville, said that self-sampling will allow women who avoid Pap smears to access vital cervical screening tests.
Self-sampling is available to women at least 30 years of age and who are considered under-screened (four or more years since last Pap test), or who have never been screened and who decline a practitioner-collected specimen. Self-collection is a vaginal swab for human papillomavirus (HPV) testing. The sample contains vaginal, not cervical, cells.
Self-collection for the renewed National Cervical Screening Program was not initially available from the program’s 1 December introduction, with a validation process of the laboratory and platform testing processes still underway. VCS Pathology is the first laboratory in Australia approved by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) to test self-samples.
VCS Pathology Executive Director, Associate Professor Marion Saville, said that self-sampling will allow women who avoid Pap smears to access vital cervical screening tests.
‘Our analyses of screening registry data have consistently shown that of women who develop cervical cancer in Australia at least 80% are under or never screened,’ she said. ‘There are some women for whom accepting a speculum examination is very difficult, and potentially traumatic, and self-sampling offers a way to effectively reach these women.’
A self-sampling pilot project in which VCS Pathology was involved demonstrated high acceptability of self-sampling among under-screened women from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and disadvantaged backgrounds, with 86% of women who refused a practitioner-collected sample accepting the invitation to self-sample.
Practitioner instructions
Sampling instrument
A flocked swab can be used to collect the vaginal sample. Note: dry swabs held in most clinics are flocked – check the label.
Taking the sample
How to take your own HPV test – a guide for women.
Requesting the test
Practitioners should request a cervical screening test.
Sending the sample
VCS Pathology provides instructions for sending samples.
cervical cervical-screening self-sampling
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