Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Magazine de la Santé on France 5, talks today about the results of a Finnish study which was aimed at a corpus of 700 women who were able to participate in a self-sampling program for breast cancer screening. ‘uterus. A program that should soon be implemented in France.
franceinfo: This self-sampling in Finland was offered to women who are not well followed?
Geraldine Zamansky: Absolutely. What was done in Finland for this study is very close to what will soon be implemented in France. A self-sampling kit was offered to women who stayed out of the cervical cancer screening program. Instead of the “vaginal smear” carried out by a professional, you just have to insert yourself a kind of cotton swab a few centimeters long. This makes it possible to look for a virus, the papillomavirus. Because if it settles for a long time, it risks damaging the cells of the cervix and promoting the appearance of cancer.
In the Finnish study, of the more than 700 women who did, 20% were carriers of the virus. And the samples taken later in the laboratory revealed that 7 women were suffering from so-called high-grade lesions. That is to say a worrying stage, but where a local ablation is still sufficient. However, in the general population, screening finds half as many. This is what Eeva Auven, virologist and coordinator of this study, explained to me.
This shows that self-sampling made it possible to reach a population at risk. Women whose lesions worsen, for lack of regular consultations. Eeva Auven hopes that these results will convince her government to generalize this device.
And you say that in France, it is already planned?
Yes quite. According to Stéphanie Barré Pierrel, coordinator of screening programs at the INCA, the National Cancer Institute, this will concern women aged 30 to 65 who are at least 4 years behind in their follow-up. Those who will have a negative result will be reassured. It will be necessary to convince the others to continue the diagnostic process. No worries on this point, for Dr. Ken Haguenoer, head of the regional screening center in Tours.
In one of the French studies that he coordinated on self-sampling, more than 9 women screened positive out of 10 were well taken care of. He told me that at the beginning, the problem was mainly that they were often afraid of doing the test badly. But all the results obtained in Tours and internationally show that this is not the case. Moreover, the Netherlands have already adopted this system.
For us, Stéphanie Barré Pierrel told me that all that is missing is a ministerial decision of a logistical nature, to launch everything. Let’s hope it happens quickly since today in France, at least 4 out of 10 women are not screened for cervical cancer. And we remind you that there is now a recommended vaccine for young girls and boys against the papillomavirus.
>>> Screening for cervical cancer: understanding, preventing, detecting
>>> Papillomavirus vaccination (Ameli)