Cervical cancer
starts with a pre-invasive stage called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia
(CIN) or abnormalities in the epithelial cells of the uterus and is curable. It
progresses slowly and reaches an invasive stage when it is very difficult or
mostly incurable. Needless to say it becomes a very expensive treatment.
Screening for
cervical cancer helps find the disease at an early stage when there are no
symptoms thus allowing for better chance of cure. Screening is done basically
either by HPV test (or screening for human papillomavirus) or in addition to a
Papanicolaou test, commonly called the Pap smear, which can be conventional or
liquid based.
In countries
where cervical cancer screening is the primary preventive strategy, it is being
debated whether or not to replace cytology screening with HPV screening. A
Swedish study found that 'incorporating HPV testing in primary cervical
screening improves sensitivity and maintains a high positive predictive value,
thus minimizing unnecessary referrals'.
However,
comparison between HPV testing and cytology screening is not that
straightforward. It depends on the quality of cytology screening and the
prevalence of HPV infections relative to the level of risk for cervical cancer.
The cost of screening is also an important criterion for comparison, especially
in Europe. For example, the German statutory health insurance (SHI) funds
reimburse HPV testing only when the result of a Pap smear is unclear.
So, Marjolein van Ballegooijen from Erasmus MC, University Medical
Center, Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues took up a study to investigate
the 'balance between benefits, burden, and costs of HPV screening
compared with cytology screening for various scenarios based on combinations of
variables observed in several European countries' with the objective of finding
out whether and under what variables screening for HPV is preferred over
cytology screening for cervical cancer, from the cost effectiveness point of
view.
Along with the
low risk base case scenario, the other five scenarios were:
- Risk of cervical cancer
- Previous screening
- Quality associated test characteristics
- Cost of testing
- Prevalence of HPV
Cost
effectiveness analysis was based on a Dutch simulation model or the micro
simulation screening analysis (MISCAN) model. This model simulates a large
study population (unvaccinated women born between 1939 and 1992, in this case)
in which women will acquire HPV infections, develop pre-invasive cervical
lesion and get cervical cancer. Some may die from the cancer. Alternatively,
infections can clear or the cancer can regress. Now, if this simulated
population undergoes screening, there will be changes in the age specific and
time specific output of disease incidence and mortality in terms of number of
events and stages induced or prevented.
The MISCAN model
produces the number of life years spent (QALY - quality adjusted life years) in
each state as well as the number of certain events, such as screenings and
cervical cancer diagnoses, in a woman's lifetime.
The difference
in the number of life years gained between the situation with screening and the
situation without screening depicts the total effectiveness of screening.
Similar approach was used to determine the net costs of screening.
The results
showed that:
- Primary HPV screening was preferred over primary cytology
screening in most of the scenarios except where in high HPV prevalence scenario
and where the cost of screening was very high.
- Primary cytology screening was preferred in cases of higher
costs for HPV screening and in high HPV prevalence scenario.
- Primary cytology was preferred, in the scenario with low costs
for cytology, irrespective of lower sensitivity and specificity that
accompanied the lower costs in some eastern European countries such as Romania,
Bulgaria, the Slovac Republic and Latvia.
- Primary HPV screening was the preferred primary test over the
age of 30 in many considered scenarios.
- In countries like the United Kingdom and Italy where
population based primary HPV screening trials are not yet implemented, reliable
estimates for the prevalence of HPV are often not available.
- It is not clear whether the situation of high prevalence of
HPV and high costs for the HPV test is common in Europe.
'It is important
to organize primary HPV screening in such a manner that the costs of the test
are low. This can be achieved by concentrating the large numbers of HPV DNA
tests in large laboratories to achieve economy of scale effects, such that the
costs per test are lower if more test are analyzed.' - stated the authors.
Although the
investigators did not consider strategies that differ by age group, they found
that, from a cost effectiveness point of view, primary cytology screening is
preferred under the age of 30.
Another
limitation was not including men in their study model since men influence the
prevalence of HPV in the female population, owing to sexual interaction. 'Since
HPV screening has a higher sensitivity, more HPV infection can in theory be
removed from the population and the chance of becoming infected with HPV could
be lower in the case of HPV screening,' they say.
In conclusion,
they recommended that European countries should switch from primary cytology to
HPV screening. Also, they feel that it is important to organize primary HPV
screening in such a way that the procedures are carried out in large centers to
monitor the quality of the screening and to ensure that the costs of the test
are low.
Reference : 1. de Kok IM, van Rosmalen J, Dillner J, Arbyn M,
Sasieni P, Iftner T, van Ballegooijen M. Primary screening for human
papillomavirus compared with cytology screening for cervical cancer in European
settings: cost effectiveness analysis based on a Dutch microsimulation model. BMJ.
2012 Mar 5; 344:e670. doi: 10.1136/bmj.e670.
2. http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2009/01/13/jnci.djp003.full
Source: Medindia