Authors' objectives:

To summarise the current research evidence on the effectiveness of opto-electronic devices for the detection of cervical cancer.

Authors' recommendations: - Clinical impact: Opto-electronic scanning appears to be a promising method (in terms of potential sensitivity and specificity, patient acceptability and timeliness) for cervical screening. Large multicentre trials are needed to further assess sensitivity and specificity in the UK setting, and determine its place and cost-effectiveness in any screening programme. - Service impact: Widespread training in the use of these devices would be required if they were adopted within the current screening programme. The use of opto-electronic devices as a primary screening tool would require a significant re-organisation of the whole of the NHS Cervical Screening Programme. Use as a triage tool will be less disruptive and may reduce the number of referrals for colposcopy. - Patient issues: Truscan has been shown (albeit in a relatively small study) to be more acceptable to patients than the conventional Pap smear. The timeliness of reporting of screening results may also be more acceptable than conventional techniques. It is hard to assess if widespread use of the device will positively affect uptake especially as the current method is consistently capturing over 80% of its target population. - Financial and overall NHS impact: In the absence of cost data and without large UK-based multicentre trials it is difficult to predict the cost impact of these devices. Costs of any screening programme will also be very dependent on the programme use of such devices, i.e. triage, adjunct or direct replacement.

Authors' methods: Overview

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2000

URL for published report: http://www.hsric.nihr.ac.uk/search

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: England, United Kingdom

Organisation Name: NIHR Horizon Scanning Centre

Contact Address: The NIHR Horizon Scanning Centre, Department of Public Health, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics, School of Health and Population Sciences, University of Birmingham, 90 Vincent Drive, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2SP. United Kingdom. Tel: +44 121 414 7831, Fax: +44 121 2269

Contact Name: c.packer@bham.ac.uk

Contact Email: c.packer@bham.ac.uk

Copyright: National Horizon Scanning Centre