Is It Time to Move Beyond Visual Inspection With Acetic Acid for Cervical Cancer Screening?

Figures & Tables

TABLE 1.

VIA Strengths and Limitations

VIA Strengths	VIA Limitations
Affordable; low per-capita screening costs	High inter-operator variability
Point-of-care results; treatment or referral decisions can be taken in the same visit	Problematic sensitivity, especially for older women with endocervical lesions
Useful for downstaging of cancers in previously unscreened women	Need for investments in high-intensity quality assurance efforts

TABLE 2.

HPV Testing Strengths and Limitations

HPV Testing Strengths	HPV Testing Limitations
Point-of-care testing or centralized testing, dependent on testing platform and local needs	Majority of HPV infections (especially in young women) are transientand clinically non-significant
Simplicity and potential scalability of self-collection of samples	Lack of specificity for precancer
Reproducible results; not rater-dependent	Higher per-capita tests costs than VIA
Economical due to longer screening intervals possible for HPV-negative women