- With Mayo Clinic internist
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
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Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, certified by the American Board of Family Practice, has been practicing medicine at Mayo Clinic since 1995 with special interests in breast diseases and women's health.
She is a consultant in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, and the Breast Diagnostic Clinic. She is an assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minn.
The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native stresses education and patient-related research and has been active in both areas since joining Mayo Clinic. She is the primary investigator at Mayo Clinic of several clinical trials evaluating new agents for the prevention of breast cancer and identification of biomarkers for early detection of breast cancer. Her other research and clinical interests include managing the health of women who are at increased risk of breast cancer, breast pain and hot flashes, and developing patient education decision-making tools for breast-related concerns. She is director of the Breast Diagnostic Clinic and is a member of the Women's Health Executive Committee. Dr. Pruthi has been newly elected as a member to the board of directors for the American Society of Breast Disease. She has assisted with a variety of articles for MayoClinic.com.
"Having an opportunity to share information with my patients in the way that will help them to understand and be able to make educated decisions about their own health is very important to me," she says.
"The Web has become a major information site for people, and I want them to get the best and accurate information to be able to make informed choices for themselves, their family members and friends."
More answers
- Pap smear: Do I need one if I'm a virgin?
- Cervical cancer: Can I get it if I've never had sex?
- HPV infection: How does it cause cervical cancer?
- Pap smear: Still necessary after hysterectomy?
- Cervical dysplasia: Is it cancer?
- see all
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Question
Cervical cancer screening: Does HPV testing beat the Pap smear?
I recently heard that the HPV test is better at screening for cervical cancer than the traditional Pap smear. Is this true? Does this mean that the HPV test will replace the Pap smear?
Answer
from Sandhya Pruthi, M.D.
Early findings from a large Canadian study suggest that the human papillomavirus (HPV) test is a far more accurate screening tool for cervical cancer than is the standard Pap smear. But the Pap smear isn't going away anytime soon.
Like a Pap smear, an HPV test is done on a sample of cells collected from your cervix. The difference is that a Pap smear checks only for changes in the cells of your cervix, while an HPV test checks for the genetic material (DNA) of human papillomavirus. It's an important difference, because several strains of HPV can lead to cervical cancer over time.
Canadian researchers reported that the HPV DNA test was nearly 40 percent better at detecting precancerous cervical lesions than was the Pap smear. The HPV DNA test did incorrectly identify normal cervical cells as precancerous more often than Pap testing did, but the difference was not as great as some previous studies had suggested. The findings are published in the Oct. 18, 2007, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
At this time, the HPV test remains a second-line evaluation for cervical cancer, ordered after a suspicious Pap smear result. It's also considered a useful addition to Pap testing for women older than age 30 who may be at high risk of cervical cancer. It's not used to screen women younger than age 30 with normal Pap results. This is because most HPV infections in women younger than age 30 clear up on their own and aren't associated with cervical cancer.
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