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| |  First Hospitals Taking Advantage of New Technology Replacing Pap Smear ALLENTOWN, Pa., Nov. 26, 1996 -- The Lehigh Valley is in the forefront of giving women access to a revolutionary advancement in women's health. Health Network Laboratories, the clinical laboratory of Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH), will be one of the first labs in the country to take advantage of a new technology to screen for cervical cancer. The new test will decrease the number of inconclusive results currently associated with the Pap smear, increase the early detection of cervical cancer, and has the potential for significant cost savings to the health care system. LVH's gynecological and primary care physicians will start making the new test available to women by the end of the year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the ThinPrep 2000 System for cervical cancer screening in May. Developed by Cytyc Corporation of Massachusetts, the system prepares the ThinPrep Pap test, which is intended to replace the 50-year-old Pap smear. With more than 100 million Pap smears performed annually worldwide, it is the most widely used cancer screening test. "The ThinPrep Pap test is an excellent example of the shifting focus in health care to early detection and disease prevention, as opposed to disease treatment. It will set a new standard for preventative women's health care," said Vincent Lucente, M.D., chief of gynecology for the department of obstetrics and gynecology at LVH. "This new technology will offer a significant improvement in our ability to screen for cancer of the cervix. We are committed to leading the way to make this advancement available to the medical community and to as many women as possible in the region." By improving the way cervical cell samples are prepared, the ThinPrep Pap test has been shown to reduce the number of cervical samples that were compromised due to blood, mucus and inflammation. The result will be a reduction in the number of repeat Paps, a decrease in the number of colposcopies, and an increase in the early detection of pre-cancerous conditions when they are more easily treated. Medical experts estimate that as many as one out of four cervical abnormalities may be missed using the conventional Pap smear. "This new tool should help us reduce women's anxiety and increase their confidence with the results of their Pap test," Lucente said. "It also has the potential for significant cost savings to the health care system by decreasing the need for additional tests that are currently necessary and by detecting cervical disease at an earlier stage." With the conventional Pap smear, the physician manually smears cervical cells onto a microscope slide. Recent studies have demonstrated that this manual method results in as many as 80 percent of the collected cells being discarded with the collection device. Additionally, up to 40 percent of all Pap smears are compromised by obscuring blood, mucus and inflammation. "This limitation of the Pap smear accounts for the majority of inconclusive results and limits our chances of making a good diagnosis," said John Shane, M.D., chairman of pathology for LVH. "The ThinPrep Pap test addresses this problem and gives us a much greater chance of identifying cellular abnormalities." With the ThinPrep Pap test the physician collects the cervical cell sample in the traditional manner, but rather than smearing a small portion of the cervical cells onto a slide, the collection device is rinsed in a vial of preservative solution. The patient specimen is then sent to a laboratory where a special processor disperses and filters the specimen to reduce blood, mucus and inflammation and applies a thin, even layer of the cervical cells to a microscope slide. The result of this process is a uniform preparation of well-preserved cells ready for microscopic examination and diagnosis. Prevention magazine's report in October about measures woman could take to improve the accuracy of Pap results included the ThinPrep Pap test. "Our mission is to provide the best of the latest information on preventive measures for good health," said Toby Hanlon, researcher editor for Prevention. "We are thrilled that an organization in our own community is being responsive to the needs of women and is leading the way in this new capability." Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women in the world, with approximately 450,000 cases reported annually on a worldwide basis. American Cancer Society estimates for women in the United States in 1996 include 15,700 new cases of invasive cancer and 65,000 cases of carcinoma in situ, a serious but less threatening pre-cancerous condition with an estimated 4,900 deaths overall. If detected in the pre-cancerous stage, virtually all cervical cancer is curable. The treatment of cervical cancer after it reaches the invasive stage may require chemotherapy, radiation treatment, or surgery, including hysterectomy. "This breakthrough in technology gives us yet another opportunity to stress the importance of regular cervical cancer screenings," Lucente said. LVH will roll out the test in its physician offices starting mid-December and will have it available throughout the network by the end of the first quarter 1997. "Health Network Laboratories will collaborate with any provider or patient to make this new test available," David Beckwith, Ph.D., vice president of Network Laboratory Services and clinical director of Health Network Laboratories. "We also are working with Cytyc to educate insurance carriers and managed care organizations on the superiority of this test and the need to make it available to as many women as possible." Based in Boxborough, Mass., Cytyc Corporation (Nasdaq: CYTC) develops, manufacturers and markets the ThinPrep System for medical diagnostic applications. Cytyc has marketed ThinPrep since 1991 for use in the diagnosis of cancers including lung, bladder and gastrointestinal tract and in preparation of fine needle aspiration of thyroid and breast.
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