Doctor Develops Do-It-Yourself Pap Smear Test
Study: DIY Test Caught More Cases Of HPV Than Traditional Test
POSTED: 3:59 pm EDT April 15, 2005
UPDATED: 5:56 pm EDT April 20, 2005
MIAMI -- In the near future, there might be an at-home alternative to the traditional pap smear.
A pap test is a way to retrieve cells from the cervix to check for cancer and other diseases. Dr. Arthur Fornier has invented a do-it-yourself pap test that can be done at home in two minutes.
Fornier, who has been teaching medical students how to perform pap smears for 27 years at the University of Miami, explained his idea for the at-home version.
"It never seemed right to me that this is such an invasion of privacy, and with all the technology, all these gadgets with bells and whistles that we have, it just seemed like there ought to be a better way," Fornier said.
Fornier explained that his at-home pap test kit is made of a special plastic that has small holes to pick up cells from the cervix.
"You insert it, move it around on the cervix. Ideally, 20 times, about two minutes, then you remove it," Fornier said. "Take a specimen jar and you just pop it right into the jar."
Then, Fornier said the specimen is sent to a lab for testing.
The device was put to the test in Haiti, where access to doctors is limited and cultural reasons stand in the way of many women being screened for cervical cancer.
Medical student Rachel Lange helped with the study.
"We had a local health worker explain to them how to use this device, then we did a traditional pap smear so we can compare the two," Lange said. "It was much easier for them (than to) undergo a traditional pap smear."
Results of the study appeared in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine. Among the findings, the study showed that the do-it-yourself pap test harvested more cells and identified more cases of the human papilloma virus, a disease that causes cervical cancer.
Fournier said the National Cancer Institute will use his device to screen 1,500 women in rural Mississippi this summer, but realistically, it will be three to five years before it is widely available to American women.
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