By Erin Kayata
Many women dread getting their regular Pap smears. The procedure, which involves scraping cells from the cervix to check for HPV and cancer, is often uncomfortable for patients.
But a new at-home exam may offer another option for cervical cancer screening for patients who struggle getting Pap tests. The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a vaginal test made by Teal Health that allows patients to collect samples at home that can then be tested for human papillomavirus, which causes most cases of cervical cancer.
“It’s the kind of thing that, as a women’s health nurse practitioner, we’ve been advocating for a long time,” said Kathy Simmonds, a clinical professor of nursing and associate director of health programs at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University. “It’s an exciting development, especially for people who are more likely to not be able to get care or have been avoiding cervical cancer screening. This really will help people who have had difficulty accessing care for a variety of reasons.”
