Visitors and news

The Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India (FOGSI) convened an expert group on cervical cancer prevention to formulate good clinical practice recommendations (GCPR) with respect to vaccine efficacy and safety, target groups, optimal timing and dosing schedules. Experts concluded that HPV vaccination should be the priority to achieve the elimination of cervical cancer. The introduction of affordable HPV vaccines and reduced dose schedules will improve coverage. View the publication.

In this commentary published in HPVWORLD, Dr Partha Basu and colleagues demonstrate that protection against the vaccine-targeted HPV types (HPV16 and 18) or the cross-protective types (HPV31, 33 and 45) is similar in the 15-18 year-old women irrespective of whether they received two doses or three doses.
View the commentary.

This article published in the International Journal of Gynecological Pathology reports the evaluation of the biomarkers p16 and Ki-67 in improving the diagnostic accuracy of cervical histopathology and assess the correlation between p16 expression and human papillomavirus test in different grades of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Authors concluded that dual staining could be used as an adjunctive test to improve the diagnostic accuracy of histopathology. In addition, p16/Ki-67 IHC has a role in guiding management decisions in cases with discordant colposcopy and histopathology diagnoses. View the article.

In this commentary published in HPVWORLD, Dr Partha Basu and colleagues share the preliminary findings suggesting high vaccine effectiveness in preventing incident HPV16/18 infections, as well as persistent infections, regardless of the number of doses received.
View the commentary.

Authors report the results of a prospective randomized study conducted at Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI), Kolkata, India, comparing the safety, acceptability and efficacy of thermal ablation with cryotherapy in a screen and treat setting. Authors conclude that thermal ablation is as acceptable and safe as cryotherapy. Thermal ablation has the logistic advantages for the low-resourced settings as the machines are more portable, do not require costly refrigerant gas and battery-driven models are available. View the article.

This article published in BMJ Open, describes the protocol of the largest cervical screening study (ESTAMPA) implemented in Latin America, across 12 study centres. The ESTAMPA study objectives are to evaluate the performance of different triage techniques to detect cervical precancer and to inform on how to implement HPV-based screening programmes in LMIC. This study will permit evaluation of several triage tests, alone or in combination, for HPV-positive women. View the article.

In this commentary published in HPVWORLD, Dr Partha Basu discusses the Quebec's Mixed HPV vaccination schedule introduction.
View the commentary.

This article published in JCO Global Oncology reports the evaluation of the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of implementing an HPV self-sampling–based approach to screen a socioeconomically disadvantaged, unscreened population with support from community health workers (CHWs). Authors concluded CHW-driven self-sampling for HPV testing is feasible, well-accepted, and effective for screening unscreened hard-to-reach women. The screen-and-treat approach can ensure linkage between screening and treatment. View the article.

Authors reported the outcomes of this cross-sectional multicentre clinical research study organized in China. They evaluated the diagnostic performance of automated breast ultrasound system (ABUS) and handheld ultrasound (HHUS) in Chinese women with dense breasts, both in combination with mammography and separately. In this study, both ABUS and HHUS as adjuncts to mammography significantly improved the breast cancer detection rate in women with dense breasts. Given the high prevalence of dense breasts and the multiple advantages of ABUS over HHUS, such as less operator dependence and reproducibility, ABUS showed great potential for use in breast cancer early detection, especially in resource-limited areas. View the article.

Registration is now open for trainees wishing to attend the online edition of the IFCPC-IARC Training Course in Colposcopy and the Prevention of Cervical Cancer. Visit the IFCPC website for more details and registration form. This is an exciting new opportunity for medical personnel wishing to train in colposcopy and prevention of cervical cancer with 30 lectures by world renowned experts in the field. The course provides comprehensive, multimodal training incorporating theoretical knowledge and image recognition. Course commences from 20^th April 2020. See also the online training course brochure.