Memidis Pharma is attending the VVOG Postgraduate Study Day May 31:’prevention and treatment of HPV-related cervix pathology’.
The Postgraduate Study Day is a co-organization of the VVOG and one of the four university internship masters each time and will take place in Ghent this year. This year’s theme is “prevention and treatment of HPV-related cervix pathology.
Cervical cancer screening continues to stir up emotions: in Flanders, between 2010 and 2013, we experienced the transition from opportunistic (mostly) annual screening, to biannual screening, to the current organized population screening every 3 years, in barely 3 years. The goal of population screening was twofold: to increase the coverage rate and, of course, to reduce overscreening. As far as the coverage rate is concerned, the results remain somewhat below expectations: it rose from 59% in 2013 to 62% in 2017. Overscreening, on the other hand, has indeed been greatly reduced: the percentage of participants for whom participation was an overscreening fell to 26.3% in 2016 from 37.8% in 2013. Mission certainly partially successful, then!
Now that HPV tests are becoming more effective and more affordable, there are more and more calls (rightly or wrongly) to switch to primary HPV screening. In some of our neighboring countries, the decision to do so has already been made. The Netherlands even made the switch this year. How do we in Belgium see our screening evolving, what is the scientific evidence regarding HPV testing and cytology, do we stick to having the test taken by a healthcare provider or are there convincing arguments to switch to self-testing? And what is the state of vaccination, how will we organize screening in vaccinated cohorts, and how should we interpret HPV test results in vaccinated women? Finally, we also want to review the evidence regarding the policy in case of abnormalities and after treatment of lesions.
More information can be found on the VVOG website
On May 31 you are welcome to visit our booth during this study day in Ghent.
