Cervical cancer screening would possibly have a higher attendance rate if it didn’t involve a vaginal speculum ­examination.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Austria’s University of Innsbruck have come up with a test that can do just that. It’s a simpler and more effective screening method than the one used today.

A comprehensive study shows the test detects significantly more cancers and precancerous stages.

To detect it early and prevent cervical cancer developing screening is essential. In the UK we have a screening programme that starts with testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV) that causes cervical cancer.

A HPV-positive test is followed by the microscopic examination of gynaecological cell samples (cytology) by experts.

The new test could replace the necessity for this as it automatically analyses changes in cells that promote cancer development. It detects which cancer genes that are switched on, which would increase the risk of cancer and other diseases, and those which are not.

The current study included more than 28,000 women over the age of 30 who underwent screening in ­Stockholm between January and March 2017.

The researchers analysed 2,377 HPV-positive samples with the new (WID-qCIN) test, combined with a test for two high-risk HPV types (16 and 18). In this way, they were able to detect 100% of all invasive cervical cancer and 93% of all precancerous lesions that occurred within a year of sampling.

Joakim Dillner, professor of ­infectious disease epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet, and co-author of the study, is enthusiastic: “By integrating the WID-qCIN test into our programmes, we would be able to identify more cancer cases while reducing need for invasive procedures.”

Most importantly, the results of the current study suggest implementation of the WID-qCIN test could reduce the number of colposcopy examinations by 40%. That’s because when cell changes are detected in our current screening programme, a woman has a vaginal examination, colposcopy, where the gynaecologist looks at the cervix with the help of a microscope and, if necessary, takes a biopsy.

“This would mean a significant improvement compared to today’s screening methods, which were ­introduced in the 1960s,” says the study’s last author Professor Martin Widschwendter of the University of Innsbruck and visiting professor at the Department of Women’s and ­Children’s Health, Karolinska ­Institutet.

“With its simplicity and objective assessment, the WID-qCIN test can be used to improve the effectiveness of these programmes and support the global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer.”