New technologies for cervical cancer screening

New technologies for cervical cancer screening seek to provide an accurate, efficient and cost-effective way of identifying women at risk for cervical cancer. Current screening uses human papilloma virus DNA testing combined with cytology, and requires multiple visits at a great cost to the patient and society. New methods for screening include HPV diagnostics (detection of either the presence of human papilloma virus or integration of the virus into the host cell), proliferation, and detection of epigenetic changes, either in the host or virus. These methods show promise in changing the way that current cervical cancer screening is undertaken in low- and high-resource settings. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.