Human papillomavirus (HPV) test will replace cytology as the primary test for cervical screening on March 3rd, 2025.
Publicly funded HPV testing will result in changes to screening recommendations and pathways. Testing for low-risk patients will be recommended every five years. Immunocompromised patients should be screened every 3 years. Referral criteria to colposcopy will change. Follow-up from colposcopy will change.
Specimens will still be collected via speculum exam of the cervix but now using the Thin Prep method Our local participating labs are LifeLabs or Dynacare. We will need to use the new requisition. There are over 100 strains of HPV but only some are oncogenic. So, when a result comes back HPV positive it will mean it is positive for oncogenic HPV. If a result is HPV positive, partial genotyping will be done on the sample to see which HPV subtype is present as some (16 and 18/45) are more oncogenic. In addition, all HPV positive results will undergo cytology. With this testing algorithm, the sensitivity and specificity are much higher than current cytology-based testing.
Primary care is key to successfully implement HPV testing. Providers, staff and allied health care professionals (the whole team!) are all invited to learn more through one of the webinars listed below. The two local webinars will be hosted by local primary care cancer screening lead Dr. Meghan Davis and our Regional Cervical Cancer and Colposcopy Lead Dr. Andra Nica. Our local webinars will be interactive, include local data and local pathways to colposcopy. All webinars are certified for 2 Mainpro+ credits.
WEBINARS:
Local webinars:
Friday January 31, 2025 (12 Noon-1PM): REGISTER HERE
Thursday February 6, 2025 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM): REGISTER HERE
Ontario Health Led Webinars:
February 4, 2025 (7:30 AM – 8:30 AM): WEBINAR LINK
February 13, 2025 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM): WEBINAR LINK
Ontario College of Family Physicians Webinar:
Friday February 7, 2025, 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM. Community of Practice link
In the meantime, for more information please visit the HPV hub which includes a Frequently Asked Question guide and a helpful schematic of the new pathways.