Cervical Cancer Prevention: Toward Cost-Effective Screening

The decrease in the incidence of invasive cervical cancer has been credited to the widespread use of Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening. Although relatively inexpensive to perform, Pap smears, if positive, often result in further diagnostic work-up (eg, colposcopy, biopsy, endocervical curettage) and associated patient anxiety. Unfortunately, false positives are frequent with Pap smears, and even screened populations of patients continue to have a significant incidence of cervical cancer. Presumably, expanding screening programs to unscreened populations or screening selected, at-risk populations more frequently could further reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer. Yet, few rigorous, prospective studies exist to allow for the formulation of cost-effective guidelines that optimize screening resources. To determine just how much screening is cost-effective, the medical community will have to answer several questions regarding the definition of cost-effectiveness itself, the optimal age to begin screening, whether abnormal Pap smears can be better stratified according to risk, the limitations of Pap smear screening, and whether advances in technology can help increase the positive predictive value of current screening strategies.