Nov 30
2020
New Technologies Improving Cervical Health
Technology is significantly changing the world around us. It is optimizing our lives and causing sociopolitical issues simultaneously. One of the most prevalent and pivotal ways technology can improve our lives is by using it to make our bodies and minds healthier. Perhaps the most important way new technologies can help is by curing and screening for diseases. Cervical health is being facilitated with technologies that are offering insight, preventative measures, and treatments for deadly diseases like cancer and HPV.
Cervical Cancer Screenings
One of the many ways that technology is improving health is through cancer screenings. This is especially relevant for cervical cancer. Medical professionals are finding new methods to provide accurate, efficient, and cost-effective identification for the women who at risk for cervical cancer.
Cancer in the cervix is the seventh most common cancer among women. Currently, cancer screening in the cervix uses HPV DNA testing that is combined with cytology. But this method requires visits that are both costly to the patient and the society at large.
New screening methods include diagnostics, which detects either the presence of HPV or the integration of the virus into the host cell, proliferation of the cancer, and detection of epigenetic changes in the person or the virus. According to a study from the US National Library of Medicine, these new screening techniques are showing great promise for detecting cervical cancer.