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CERVICAL CANCER BIO-PROBE

Natalie is grateful that she listened to her body. It helped doctors in her cervical cancer detection and treatment.
“I had one missed period and for me that wasn’t normal, so I went to the doctor,” says Natalie.
A pap smear revealed that at only 27 years old, Natalie had cervical cancer.
“I had a hysterectomy and I had radiation,” she says. Her situation could have been worse if her cervical cancer detection had been delayed any further.

Cervical cancer is difficult to detect and potential victims must watch out for symptoms. Natalie is grateful that she listened to her body. It helped doctors in her cervical cancer detection and treatment. “I had one missed period and for me that wasn’t normal, so I went to the doctor,” says Natalie. A pap smear revealed that at only 27 years old, Natalie had cervical cancer. “I had a hysterectomy and I had radiation,” she says. Her situation could have been worse if her cervical cancer detection had been delayed any further.

Natalie had always been vigilant with her yearly exams. Her gynecologist, Dr. Abbie Fields of Montefiore Medical Center says that Natalie’s due diligence saved her life. “50% of women who are diagnosed with cervical cancer haven’t been to a gynecologist, for an exam in the recent past and another 10% haven’t been for a pap smear in 5 years prior to their diagnosis.”

Now researchers at Temple University Hospital are conducting a study to test the effectiveness of a new cervical caner detection tool called the bio-probe. “This will be the new pap smear of the future,” says Dr. Enrique Hernandez, director of gynecologic oncology at Temple University Hospital. The function of the bio-probe is to detect pre-cancerous lesions.

Because cervical cancer develops slowly, it is usually preventable if cervical cancer detection early stages using screening tests like a pap smear during regular gynecologic exams. With a pap, living cells are collected by gently scraping the surface of the cervix. These cells are then sent to a lab which checks for any cell abnormalities.

Dr. Hernandez says the bio-probe is less invasive. The probe is simply inserted into the vagina for a few seconds and takes a reading of the cervical tissue. “What this little probe does is it measures the electrical current in the cervix, the tip of the uterus. And as the cells in the cervix become abnormal, there’s also an increase in blood flow and with that increase in blood flow there is also the decrease in the conduction of electricity,” says Dr. Hernandez. Researchers are measuring that decrease as it goes from normal to abnormal.
Dr. Hernandez hopes the ease of the bio-probe will enable and encourage women to self-monitor.

The best thing about the probe is that the woman can do in the privacy of her own home by herself and send across the information for diagnosis to the lab electronically. Early cervical cancer detection can mean the difference between life and death. “It does not discriminate and women of all ages, especially young women in New York and elsewhere, need to start going to their doctors early and make those yearly check-ups,” says Natalie.

Dr. Hernandez warns that although the probe would be an excellent diagnostic tool, there is no replacement for a physical exam. Right now, the pap only looks at the cells shed by the cervix. A thorough exam of the uterus and ovaries is crucial for cervical cancer detection and treatment.

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