Frequently asked questions – for patients

The guidelines differ between the European countries. Germany and Austria offer regular annual screening with the Pap test from the age of 20 and 18, respectively. In other countries women without cytology findings are rescreened only every three to five years.

Nowadays the most frequently used method in cervical cancer screening is a microscopic inspection of a smear from the cervix of the patient, the so-called Pap test. This Pap test may, through appearance of untypical cells, indicate the presence of a disease at the cervix. But only few of these abnormal findings in the test indicate the formation or even presence of cancer. Many studies have demonstrated that many of the surgeries performed after an abnormal Pap test, so-called conizations, could be avoided. These surgeries can have adverse effects for women in their reproductive phase, such as higher risk of perinatal loss or preterm birth.

Weak cellular changes, so-called mild dysplasias, most frequently heal spontaneously. Therefore they are checked regularly. HPV testing may contribute to the clarification of the question if a dysplasia has the potential to develop into a carcinoma. In case of a negative HPV test result the probability for progression to cancer is very low.

In the case of more severe cellular changes, together with an incident HPV infection, a specific examination, a so-called colposcopy may be performed. During this examination a biopsy may be taken for further diagnoses. These diagnoses may allow to determine the degree of the dysplasia.

In patients with good general health who have a good condition, smaller high-grade dysplasias may be removed surgically by laser vaporization or diathermy. In case of tumors, a connotation is performed. Patients with poor general health and/or with later stage carcinomas may initially get radiation therapy; a combination with chemotherapy is also frequently used in such cases.

In most European countries, testing for HPV is currently not performed directly as a screening method. Instead it is frequently used as a triage of women, who already were diagnosed with abnormalities in the Pap test. Then it is also paid by health insurances.

HPV tests are used in order to detect an infection. If the HPV test yields a negative result, a precancerous lesion or even cancer can be excluded with 99% probability. Only such a negative result is of high value for the patient. Only a small part of the women infected with HPV will develop a cervical disease. That’s why we have developed GynTect^®, which detects markers specifically occurring in precancerous and cancer cells.

The only way to minimize the risk of getting infected by HPV is sexual abstinence. Condoms offer rather good protection, since HPV, like other sexually transmitted diseases are transferred through exchange of body fluids. It is recommended to get immunized against the two most important cancer-causing strains HPV16 and HPV18 as early as possible (the German STIKO now recommends immunization from the age of 9 – 13). But even if immunized, you should continue participating in screening programs.

Genital HPV infections occur very frequently. In fact, human papillomaviruses are the most frequently sexually transmitted infectous agents. HPV are mainly, but not exclusively transmitted sexually. It is estimated that the probability to get infected with HPV ranges between 75 and 90%, for both, men and women.

If you are interested in GynTect^®, please contact your gynaecologist. He may then contact oncgnostics and get all the information and materials required for getting the test performed.