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Introducing HPV vaccination
- Who to vaccinate
- Consent forms
- Tracking systems to assure all 3 visits
- Should you vaccinate “off recommendations”?
THE ROAD AHEAD
This new series in Obg Management will keep you up to date on the many changes expected to take place as a result of the 2006 Consensus Conference held in September, and the introduction of HPV vaccines.
Our whole approach to cervical cancer prevention is likely to change within the next few years. Today, many obstetricians and gynecologists still consider the annual Papanicolaou test “the gold standard.” This is going to change, however, with…
ObGyns nationwide follow guidelines
This article summarizes the September 2006 Consensus Conference, organized by the ASCCP. The goal was to keep pace with the explosion of new data from clinical trials published in the last 5 years. The expected release date for the 2006 Guidelines is in the Spring or Summer of 2007. The 2001 Consensus Guidelines for the Management of Women With Cytologic Abnormalities have been extremely successful—they are now utilized by most clinicians and managed care organizations nationwide. In the last 5 years alone, more than 500,000 copies of the management algorithms have been downloaded from the ASCCP’s Web site (http://www.asccp.org), and many more have been downloaded from the Journal of the American Medical Association and the national guideline clearinghouse.
In large part, this success derived from the fact that most professional societies and federal agencies that deal with cervical cancer screening partnered in their development. Although the ASCCP organized the effort, 29 professional organizations participated. This meant that when groups such as ACOG subsequently developed guidelines for their members, they closely mirrored the 2001 Consensus Guidelines.
The 2006 Consensus Conference included approximately 100 delegates, 28 national and international professional societies, and federal agencies, but the meeting itself was only the final step in a long process. For 18 months, 6 different working groups reviewed the literature and determined where changes were needed.
NEW GUIDELINES ARE EVIDENCE-BASED
“The working groups evaluated hundreds of manuscripts and studies to make certain that the new guidelines remain evidence-based”
Kathy Poole, ASCCP Executive Director
The working groups posted their findings on Internet-based bulletin boards that allowed anyone in the national or international screening community to have input.
NEW GUIDELINES ARE SIMPLER
“One of the key goals of the 2006 Guidelines is simplification”
Dr. Mark Spitzer, ASCCP President and Chairman, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Brooklyn
“Many clinicians who manage women with cytologic abnormalities are not obstetricians and gynecologists. Nurse practitioners and family practice clinicians who don’t spend their entire lives dealing with abnormal Pap smears are responsible for much of the cervical cancer screening that takes place nationally,” said Dr. Spitzer. “The 2001 Consensus Guidelines have sometimes been characterized as complex and difficult to follow by such clinicians.”
Atypical squamous cells
HPV DNA-positive ASC-US vs LSIL
No major changes were recommended for the general population with ASC-US. However, since the ALTS trial clearly demonstrated that women with ASC-US who are high-risk HPV DNA-positive are essentially identical to women with LSIL, an effort was made to ensure that recommendations for these 2 groups are identical.
IDENTICAL MANAGEMENT
“Current data clearly indicate that women with ASC-US who are HPV DNA-positive and women with LSIL have the same risk of having high-grade disease and should therefore be managed identically” Dr. Spitzer
Although new data resulted in a number of minor changes to ASC-US recommendations, there are more significant changes in management of ASC-US with “special circumstances.” The 2001 Guidelines identified postmenopausal women and immuno-suppressed women with ASC-US as “special circumstances” to be managed differently than the general population. New guidelines eliminate this distinction.
Limited colposcopy in adolescents
Previously there was no provision for managing adolescents (up to 20 years of age) with ASC-US differently than the general population. New guidelines add adolescents as a “special population,” with different management. This change is based on considerable data demonstrating that the risk of cervical cancer is extremely low in adolescents, and that more than two thirds of adolescents with ASC-US are referred to colposcopy if “reflex” HPV DNA testing or repeat cervical cytology is utilized. Based on the newer data, a more conservative approach, which greatly limits use of colposcopy, will be introduced.
ASC-H
A number of studies have confirmed a high prevalence of CIN 2,3 as well as a high prevalence of high-risk HPV DNA positivity in women with ASC-H compared with women with ASC-US. Therefore, no substantive changes were made in the management recommendations for ASC-H. However, the need for a complete review of cytology, colposcopy, and histology results is downplayed for ASC-H without high-grade CIN.