New Technology Detects Cervical Lesions

A review of 3 earlier studies found that using speculoscopy—bright light technology—immediatelyfollowing a Pap smear may help physicians discover more cervical cancer lesions than the Paptest alone. A negative, however, is that the combination approach may also up the risk of false positives.Analyses of the studies found that using speculoscopy together with Pap smear detected anadditional 42 to 62 lesions per 1000 patients screened. The evidence also showed an increase inthe number of false positives from 55 to 111 per 1000 patients screened. The reviewers noted, that,because the review found only 3 studies that compared Pap smear alone with Pap smear and speculoscopy,the current data regarding the technology is not strong.