Charges for 'gold standard' cancer test dropped

DML's free testing plan covers all 130,000 women screened in the region each year. Photo / Richard Robinson

Auckland women now have free access to a "gold standard" test that screens for signs of cervical cancer.

Until yesterday, they had to pay around $30 to have a ThinPrep test, unlike women in most other areas, where those kinds of tests are generally free to patients.

The charge has been dropped in Auckland from today.

The improved test is 17 per cent more effective in detecting high-grade abnormalities than the previous standard test, and is no more invasive for the patient.

The change by community laboratory Diagnostic Medlab (DML) to screening for cervical cancer and related abnormalities only with ThinPrep, and making it free, covers all 130,000 women screened in the region each year.

It also means they can be tested, if necessary, for cancer-causing types of human papilloma virus without having to go to a health clinic to have a second sample taken.

About 200 New Zealand women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer and about 70 women die from the disease.

DML's move follows a deal with the supplier of ThinPrep equipment, and implements new guidelines from the National Cervical Screening Programme.

ThinPrep and SurePath are competing forms of liquid-based cytology, a cell-testing technology which has been in use for more than 10 years and is considered an improvement on the traditional pap smear.

Cells taken from a woman's cervix are mixed into a solution in a vial and processed onto a slide at the laboratory for viewing.

In a traditional smear, the cells are spread directly onto the slide.

Auckland gynaecological cancer specialist Dr John Whittaker said extending free access to ThinPrep, "the global gold standard for cervical smear tests", would increase doctors' confidence and patients' peace of mind.

DML's clinical director of cytopathology, Dr Mee Ling Yeong, said large studies had shown liquid-based cytology was more effective in the detection of abnormal cells.

Liquid-based cytology increased an individual woman's chance of having abnormalities detected.

Dr Yeong said another benefit was that a second test could be done, for human papilloma virus on the same sample.

HPV is the main cause of cervical cancer. The Government last year began offering free HPV vaccination to young women and girls and expects this will gradually reduce the incidence of cervical abnormalities and cancers.

About 1.4 million women are registered on the national screening programme and 450,000 smears are taken annually, half in liquid-based cytology.

The programme's clinical leader, Dr Hazel Lewis, said most laboratories were moving to using only liquid-based cytology within the next 12 months, in line with new screening guidelines that would, from October, incorporate HPV testing.

She understood that Auckland was the only area where women had to pay for liquid-based cytology.

DML will from August-September lose its contract to test 10,000 patients a day for Auckland's three district health boards - to newcomer, Labtests.

But its screening programme contract, under which it processes about 150,000 smear tests annually, runs for another year.