Last week, 29-year-old Maren Walvik Johnsen died of cervical cancer. After she herself had the pap smear misinterpreted, she fought to protect young women against cervical cancer. From Saturday onwards, several women can avoid facing the same fate as her. Now women between the ages of 25 and 33 get an HPV test. – An HPV test means that women who are HPV positive can have serious cell changes detected earlier, says leader of the Steering Group for the national cancer screening programme, Trude Andreassen. Leader of the Steering Group for the national cancer screening programme, Trude Andreassen, says this will prevent more cancer cases. Photo: ELISABETH JAKOBSEN The introduction can reduce the number of cancer cases in the 25 to 33-year-old age group by up to 44 cases each year, the Directorate of Health states in a press release. According to Andressen, this means that women in that age group are now being offered a more sensitive and safe method to detect the HPV virus, which can lead to cancer. – The women we need to find will be found faster, she says. – In the long term, this will lead to women being offered treatment more quickly and fewer developing cervical cancer. That is the big overarching goal. HPV is a virus that is necessary to have to develop cervical cancer. Around 300 Norwegian women get cervical cancer every year, and many are in their 30s and 40s. Norway has had the most cases of cervical cancer in the Nordic countries, and several people have advocated that the practice of pap smears was not good enough. An extra safety net According to the Norwegian Directorate of Health, this will lead to women only having to take a pap smear every five years, instead of every three years. This is because the risk of developing serious cell changes is minimal when HPV is not detected. Senior doctor at the University Hospital of Northern Norway, Sveinung Wergeland Sørbye, is happy that women under the age of 33 now also get an HPV test. – Then you can find women with the virus before they have had cell changes, he says. Sørbye also points out that several young people have taken the HPV vaccine. Thus, HPV types 16 and 18, which are the two most important types, disappear. But with an HPV test, you test for 14 different types. – Then you can pick up other types that are not so dangerous, but which should still be followed up, says Sørbye – You have a safety net that means that you can find women with HPV that you would not find with just a normal Pap test. Senior doctor at UNN, Sveinung Wergeland Sørbye, says the HPV vaccine will provide an extra safety net. Photo: Aurora Berg / news Starts home tests from the autumn of In the autumn, the cancer register starts a project where they will implement HPV home tests. – Initially, this test will be offered to women who have special needs. There may be women who, for various reasons, cannot or do not wish to have a gynecological examination with their GP, says Andreassen. Women can take this test themselves at home, then he will be late to a laboratory for analysis. – This means that a group of women who might not want to have a cervical smear because they don’t want to or can’t get it from their doctor, now get the offer to do this themselves, says Andreassen. The project has been earmarked in the state budget, and will first be rolled out in Akershus. – We will start with this in the autumn in a limited area, and then we plan to expand this to apply to more women during the next year, says Andreassen – This is a very good offer that we are very excited about. We are looking forward to getting started on it.
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Can prevent several cases of cancer – news Troms and Finnmark
