More than one-third of Canadian women believe that the human papillomavirus vaccine prevents ovarian cancer, according to a new survey by Ovarian Cancer Canada. Also, twenty-five percent believe that routine Pap smears can detect ovarian cancer. The HPV vaccine can prevent some HPV strains from causing infections that can lead to cervical cancer, and the Pap smear can detect early signs of cervical change.

Barbara Vanderhydren, of the University of Ottawa, says that she is concerned that many young women will believe that gynecological exams are not necessary if they have been vaccinated.

Let's hope that as this new vaccine takes off, physicians take the time to educate patients on what it can and can't protect against.

It's quite a revelation to hear that cervical cancer could largely be prevented by newer technology, but that is what a medical pro from the National Cancer Institute said recently.

If we're better at understanding what causes cervical cancer (and other cancers), medical technology sure is not showing it yet, as cervical cancer is still the second most common cancer afflicting women worldwide. I truly hope there is a breakthrough on the horizon, though.

But the difference here is that most cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus, not a genetic predisposition or a combination of environmental factors.

In a new study published in CMAJ, Dr. Gina Oglivie and colleagues explored the feasibility of women self-collecting specimens for HPV testing. They focused on women who might not make full use of screening programs such as women who were homeless or involved in the sex trade.

Nurses recruited women from women's shelters and alleys in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Of the 151 participants, almost 29% tested positive for high-risk HPV. The nurses were able to recontact over 80% of the patients who tested positive to refer them for further testing.

The authors conclude that self-collection of specimens is feasible for women who are at high risk of HPV infection.

According to a study in Cancer, uninsured Latina women who receive cancer education were more likely to have mammograms and Pap smears.

Women in the study who reported exposure to cancer education were more likely to be up-to-date on breast cancer and cervical cancer screening. Women who were younger, had more than a sixth-grade education and had children were more likely to be up to date on Pap smears.

This study showed that exposure to cancer education is a predictor of screening rates among uninsured Latina women.

Latin women experience higher mortality for cervical cancer and lower 5-year survival for breast cancer than non-Latina white women.

A new study suggests that cervical cancer vaccines for human papillomavirus (HPV) do not reduce or eliminate preexisting infections.

Study researcher Allan Hildesheim at the National Cancer Institute says that, based on this research, the best approach is to vaccinate girls and women before they initiate any sexual activity.

The CDC recommends that girls should be vaccinated around 11 to 12 years of age, most of whom would not have already become sexually active. According to Hildesheim, for women who have already become sexually active, cervical cancer screening is a better preventative measure than vaccination.

The study showed that the body can clear many HPV infections on its own, but that vaccinating does not increase the clearance rate in infected women.

The CDC recommends the vaccines for women up to age 26. Recommendations that women should receive regular Pap smears remain unchanged.

Barbara Garcia, an activist who championed the cervical cancer vaccine cause, died of cancer on Friday at the age of 27 after a two-year illness with the disease. Garcia was in support of mandatory HPV vaccinations for girls entering sixth grade in Texas and met with Gov. Rick Perry of Texas to make her stance known, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Perry's executive order that would have mandated the HPV vaccine in Texas was blocked by the Legislature.

"It was not happenstance that brought Barbara Garcia to the Capitol and my side this past May," Perry said in a statement. "Rather, it was her courage through unimaginable struggle and strength to publicly tell her story and advocate for an important women's issue that could save the lives of many Texans, even as she saw hers slipping away. Anita and I pray that Barbara's family and friends will find solace in the cherished memories of their time with this brave woman, and loving mother."

According to Cancerbackup, a UK-based cancer charity, people are worrying unnecessarily about hereditary cancer because they do not realize that only a small number of cancers are hereditary and 90 percent of cancers occur by chance.

In a Cancerbackup poll, 91 percent of respondents believed that if one of their relatives had cancer they are at a greater risk that average of getting cancer. According to Cancerbackup, for a majority of cases, this would not increase an individual's risk. In addition, 60 percent of respondents incorrectly thought that family history was the biggest risk factor for cancer and only 15 percent knew it is actually age.

The aim of the survey was to put genetic risk in perspective and motivate people to lower their risk via behaviors that they actually have control over.

A test using the key ingredient in vinegar, acetic acid, a speculum and a bright light, could aid in the detection of cervical cancer in poor countries, according to a study published in Lancet.

The trial was conducted in India. The researchers, led by Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, tested over 31,000 women. 3,088 women were screen positive and went on to further testing, turning up 1,874 cases of precancerous lesions. The women who were screened were 25% less likely to develop cervical cancer and 35% less likely to die from it.

This test was developed at Johns Hopkins and could be an effective screening tool as the pap smear as well as the new HPV vaccines are too expensive for many countries.

The distribution of the different types of human papilloma virus that cause cervical cancer are consistent across the world, according to a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This means that the vaccines that are currently available to protect against the two most prevalent types of HPV could prevent about 70 percent of invasive cervical cancer cases not just in the U.S, but around the world.

The researchers report that HPV16 is the most common and HPV18 is the second-most common typie in all continents. Gardasil by Merck protects against both of these types as does a similar vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

Lead study author Jennifer Smith, Ph.D cautions, "While having these vaccines represents a significant step forward, HPV-vaccinated women will need to receive clear messages that they still need to obtain their recommended Pap smears for cervical cancer prevention, given that HPV vaccines will not prevent all invasive cancer or high-grade lesions."

Talk about an oxymoron: U.S. researchers have stated that they're using tobacco plants to derive a drug to prevent cervical cancer. Sounds odd, huh?

Since cervical cancer is caused by diseases that are transmitted by sexual activity (a virus), finding a "vaccine" would go a long way in some countries to decreasing the numbers of females who contract this particular type of cancer.

This tobacco-based vaccine would be used in India initially, according to scientists. Right now, there is no information on which other countries would have a possible drug coming their way based on the tobacco plant.

Colposcopy, usually performed after a Pap smear shows abnormal cells, allows a doctor to examine the cervix with a special microscope. This procedure can be highly stressful and cause anxiety both before and during the examination.

Researchers at the Cochrane Collaboration examined data from 11 trials and determined that listening to music during colposcopy produced a significant reduction in anxiety levels. Pre-test counselling, pamphlets and video information had no effect on anxiety levels.

This makes sense to me. Counselling, pamphlets and video information could just make a woman focus more on the upcoming procedure. I can see how distraction through music might be a better option.

GlaxoSmithKline's Cervarix cervical cancer drug is closer to approval in Europe after an influential medical panel there Wednesday afternoon suggested the drug be approved.

GSK expects EU approval in the coming months, with a European Cervarix launch possibly in 2007 sometime. Cervarix assists in the prevention of pre-cancerous lesions in the cervix caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), which has been a center of contention as certain states in the U.S. have suggested mandatory vaccinations for teenage girls against the HPV.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common form of cancer in women after breast cancer worldwide. So far, Cervarix has not received approval by the FDA in the U.S.

Pap smears are used to detect cancer or abnormal cells on the cervix and are recommended every three years for women age 18 - 64.

Unfortunately, according to a recent report from the Agency for Health Research and Quality, which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over 14 percent of American women age 18-64 have not had a Pap smear in the past three years. Asian women were least likely to have received a Pap smear in the past three years.

Insured status also plays a role. Women without healthcare insurance were much more likely to not have had a Pap smear in the past three years; 25 percent of this group had not been screened versus 11 percent of women covered by private insurance and 15 percent of those on some form of public insurance.

Women who were less educated were also less likely to have had a Pap smear in the past three years as were single women when compared to their married counterparts.

There are so many cancers that are difficult to detect in the early stages and for which no widespread screening programs exist. These cancers are often discovered in the late-stage, when there is no cure. In contrast, Pap smear screening reduces both the incidence and mortality from cervical cancer and is simple and relatively inexpensive. Hopefully, as our country continues to grapple with our healthcare access crisis, we can find a way to for more women to get screened for this preventable cancer.

Endometriosis increases the risk of certain cancers according to a recent analysis by Dr Anna-Sofia Melin at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. About 63,000 women who had been given a diagnosis of endometriosis between 1969 and 2002 were identified. In endometriosis, cells that usually only grow within the uterus grow outside the uterus.

The researchers found that endometriosis increased the risk of developing ovarian cancer by more than a third above the risk for women who did not have endometriosis (37%). There were similar increases in risk for endocrine tumours (38%), kidney cancer (36%) and thyroid cancer (33%). Slightly lower increases were found for brain tumours (27%) and malignant melanoma (23%), and there was a small increased risk of breast cancer (8%). In contrast, women with endometriosis had a reduced risk of cervical cancer of just under a third (29%).

However, there was no difference found between the risk of cancer in women with endometriosis who had borne children versus those who had not.

Dr. Melin cautions that it is too early to use the results of this study to give advice to doctors, but she stated, "Our hope is that doctors in general start to view the endometriosis disease as a serious disease that causes a lot of suffering to the patient and also may lead to cancer. We hope that in the future we will be able to identify those women with endometriosis that may have a more aggressive form of disease with more atypical cells, for instance, and that this may lead to better care for the patient and, hopefully, to a early diagnosis if cancer should occur."

It's been proven that cervical cancer has a significant connection with unprotected sex and STDs, particularly HPV. So is issuing a drug proven to prevent HPV to school-age girls a way to help them protect themselves from cancer? Or is it, as the Christian Voice in Britain believes, the equivalent to calling all school-age girls promiscuous, in turn suggesting that they are not morally intelligent enough to abstain from sex until marriage?

This debate has arisen in the UK in response to a call from a group called Jo's Trust to vaccinate school-age girls against HPV with a drug called Gardasil, which has been shown to protect against HPV 100%. Stephen Green of the Christian Voice has this to say about it:

The message is one of despair, disrespect and low expectations. Anyone giving this drug to a girl is telling her: "I think you are a slag". But it is also irresponsible and will raise promiscuity, teenage pregnancy and, worst of all, infertility. Young women will be thinking they have more protection than they actually have.

What are your thoughts on this? Is a nation-wide vaccination a good idea?