Up to 40% of women currently undergoing unnecessary procedures for cervical disease diagnosis could avoid the psychological and financial burdens and the potential for medical complications from treatment if given a non-invasive test with the LuViva® Advanced Cervical Scan, according to an article appearing in the Hospital Healthcare Europe 2013 Bulletin journal (page 115).
According to the article, in addition to an emotional impact, women undergoing additional testing after a suspicious Pap test reported physical effects of the unnecessary testing that included moderate to severe pain, moderate to severe bleeding and changes in their first menstrual period post colposcopy and biopsy.
“Including LuViva into the current cervical screening models after, or in conjunction with, initial screening tests, but before colposcopy, would not only give physicians more confidence in determining if actual disease is present, but also would eliminate unnecessary follow up tests, biopsies and other procedures on healthy patients by 35 to 40%,” wrote the article’s author Leo B. Twiggs, MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “This will significantly reduce the emotional and physical trauma to the patient and, by returning the patient to their normal screening intervals sooner, would also reduce the financial burden for both the patient and the payer.”
“This article highlights the powerful potential that LuViva has to positively change the way healthcare systems and patients view cervical disease detection,” said Mark L. Faupel, Ph.D., CEO and president of Guided Therapeutics, Inc. “Even though the guidelines for screening cervical cancer are evolving and differ from country to country, LuViva is viewed by many leading physicians as designed to address these changes, while bringing efficiencies and improvements to the patient’s experience.”
About HHE
Hospital Healthcare Europe (HHE) is the official best practice reference title of HOPE – the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation. Provided to the hospital Chief Executive and Departmental Directors of some 17,000+ public and private sector hospitals in the UK and European Union, HHE is an indispensable resource for best practice information, pan-European guidelines and clinician-authored case-studies of today’s leading medical centres in Europe.
HOPE, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation, is an international non-profit organisation, created in 1966. HOPE represents national public and private hospital associations and hospital owners, either federations of local and regional authorities or national health services. Today, HOPE is made up of 34 organisations coming from the 27 Member States of the European Union, Switzerland and the Republic of Serbia. HOPE’s mission is to promote improvements in the health of citizens throughout Europe, high standard of hospital care and to foster efficiency with humanity in the organisation and operation of hospital and healthcare services.
