Cervical cancer screening 'saves lives'

Each year, over 2,800 UK women are diagnosed with cervical cancer, making it the sixth most deadly form of the disease, and healthcare experts are constantly striving to raise awareness of preventative measures which can be taken.

Now, experts have claimed that a handheld device may be able to significantly reduce the amount of time taken to diagnose cervical cancer from several weeks to just a couple of minutes, which may give hope to thousands of people.

The creator of the device, APX, predicts it will ease the trauma of smear testing for women and also help to reduce mortality rates.

It has been applauded by Robert Music, director of cervical cancer charity Jo's Trust, who said it is "vitally important" that women continue going for cervical cancer screenings.

He told cancer cover holders that the UK if fortunate to have both screening and vaccinations against the human papillomavirus, which each act as preventative tools.

"We've got two programmes that could pretty much prevent the majority of cervical cancers, if everyone was screened or vaccinated. It's vitally important to get the message out there that [cervical] screenings saves lives," he explained.

Mr Music added that at the moment many women do not get checked out because they are slightly embarrassed about the procedure, but the new device may be able to limit this.

It works by firing a very mild electric current into the cervix and instantly monitoring how it passes through cells, as those in the very early stages of turning malignant conduct electricity at a different rate to healthy cells.

The expert told medical health insurance customers: "Cervical screening is about preventing cancer. There's a pretty key educational message that needs to be drummed into people out there."

By James McCann

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