Cervical Cancer Screening Recommendations

The American Cancer Society, along with the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) and the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), organized a consensus update conference for US Cervical Cancer Screening recommendations. These new recommendations are made when new evidence suggests that a change may be needed. The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) was one of the 25 organizations invited whose members participated in this consensus-building process. SGO members provided expertise and representation on many working groups that collaborated for this guideline update. Draft recommendations were discussed and voted upon during this conference at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD in November 2011.

One of the SGO’s core missions is to promote the highest quality of comprehensive clinical care through education and research in the prevention of gynecologic cancers, including cervical cancer. These recommendations represent the most up to date and comprehensive interpretation of the currently available data for the best practices for cervical cancer screening in the US.

The Society fully endorses these guidelines and applauds the leadership of this important consensus-building process. Specifically, the SGO acknowledges the USPSTF for giving co-testing (HPV + cytology) a full recommendation. Now, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, along with USPSTF, and ASCCP/ACS/ASCP recommendations align and it is hoped that all women (over the age of 30) will be eligible for co-testing (irrespective of payor). SGO is pleased with this outcome as it truly embraces our mission of providing women with the highest quality of care.