The HPV test represents the most significant breakthrough in cervical cancer screening since the Pap smear, and is more sensitive than the Pap alone. The digene HPV Test is the only test for high-risk types of HPV approved by the FDA. •For a Pap test, a physician or nurse collects a sample of cervical cells, and laboratory technician visually examines it under a microscope to look for abnormal changes. Thus, the findings are inexact and prone to misinterpretation – no ...

What causes cervical cancer? A virus, the human papillomavirus (HPV), causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer. HPV is a common sexually transmitted virus that usually goes away by itself. Most people with HPV never even know they have it. Sometimes, if a high-risk type of HPV does not go away on its own, it may cause abnormal, or pre-cancerous, cells to form. If these abnormal cells are not found and treated, they may become cancer. An HPV infection ...

I want my patients to remember to get their pap’s on schedule. We women have a habit of taking care of everyone but our selves. I want them to remember the warning signs. Abnormal spotting. Don't blow this off and think it's just pre-menopause or an irregular period, pain with intercourse, or persistent pelvic pain. People are afraid of the diagnosis of cancer, but most women's cancers are very treatable. Go to your doctor, nurse-midwife or nurse practitioner. ...

Most people know me as a fashion and retail pioneer and as the founder and president of Liz Lange Maternity. Not many, though, know me as a cervical cancer survivor. I was diagnosed with cervical cancer after my annual trip to my gynecologist in the summer of 2001 at age 35. A week after my appointment, my doctor called me back into the office after telling me that the annual test results “looked funny.” At the time, I had a ...