Screening Methods in Prevention of Cervical Cancer

Screening is a public health activity to detect disease among people thought a priori to be well. In the United States, the major cervical screening target is treatable CIN3 (or, to be especially cautious, CIN2), not invasive cervical cancer, for which treatment causes far more morbidity and is less certain to succeed. Therefore, cervical screening distinguishes between the few women who might become patients because they are at highest risk of cancer and the overwhelming majority of women who are at far lower risk. Screening that targets the common, minor, and typically benign cytological and histological evidence of acute HPV infection cannot be cost-effective because the risk of invasive cancer is so low However, finding a woman with CIN3 is considered a screening success because she has a high risk of invasive cancer and can be treated before cancer develops.demonstrated in Nordic countries and in the United Kingdom (Bulkmans et al., 2005; Sasieni & Adams, 1999.)