The Greatest Story Never Told
Mail Online
By Pat Hagan
A hand-held device could slash the time it takes to diagnose cervical cancer from several weeks to just a couple of minutes.
The British invention looks like a TV remote control handset, with a penlike probe on the end of it.
It works by firing a very mild electric current into the cervix and instantly monitoring how it passes through cells.
Pre-cancerous cells – those in the very early stages of turning malignant – conduct electricity at a different rate to healthy cells.
NewsBlog
November 29, 2009
The fear is that some teen girls may misinterpret the new guidelines and miss out on important discussions with a gynecologist.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Some worry that STDs, teen pregnancies could go up without Pap tests to prompt doctor’s visit
* New guidelines say young women can postpone cervical cancer screening until age 21
* The guidelines still recommend that girls who are under 21 see a gynecologist
The Huffington Post
Roseanne Colletti
Emmy Award Winning Correspondent
Posted: November 22, 2009 07:43 PM
I don’t know about you, but I’m confused. Who is telling me the truth about mammograms and Pap smears? A federal panel says women can wait until 50 for yearly mammograms. A group representing obstetricians and gynecologists advises women can wait until 21 for their first screening for cervical cancer.(acog.org)
The Pap test guidelines call into question the existing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rules for the administration of Gardasil, an HPV vaccine created by pharmaceutical giant Merck. The CDC added Gardasil to its routine vaccination schedule in 2007, recommending it for 11- or 12-year-old girls. Some physicians have previously opined that, because the effectiveness of Gardasil after five years has not been established, vaccinations should start at a later age. The ACOG’s new age guidelines would seem to strengthen the argument against early administration of Gardasil.
Tampa Bay.com
By Richard Martin, Times Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009
For the second time this week, a major U.S. medical panel has revised recommendations for a key test that millions of American women use to detect cancer.
On Tuesday, it was mammograms. Today, it’s Pap tests.
Watertown Daily Times
By ALEX JACOBS
TIMES STAFF WRITER
SATURDAY, MAY 2, 2009
CERVICAL CANCER: Device reveals key changes to surfaces
POTSDAM — Clarkson University researchers have discovered a feature of cervical cancer cells that might help doctors identify the disease earlier.
Using an atomic force microscope, Igor Sokolov and his team were able to see that the cancer cells have different surface features from normal cells.
In the mean time Merck, Gardasil’s manufacturer, is standing by their product. Last July, when 15 young women had died from the vaccine, Merck said it believed that “no safety issue related to the vaccine has been identified.” No statement to the contrary has been issued by Merck as of this writing, and their Gardasil Web site continues to encourage young women — and their parents — to avail themselves of the vaccine. Incredibly, Merck is now petitioning the FDA to be allowed to inject boys with the vaccine, because they may be carriers of the virus.
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