Is the new CST (Cervical Screening Test) effective for checking cervical cancer?

In 2017, the Qld Cancer Council announced that the National Cervical Screening Program of pap smears for women every 2 years was replaced by the new Cervical Screening Test (CST) (Cancer Council, 2017). In recent times since 2022, women can still get the CST test done via their GP or also now from a home testing (self-collection) kit. This article will explain why the CST test isn’t as good as the pap smear tests, and why the home test kit is next to useless and can actually be very dangerous for women.
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The previous pap smear tests checked for abnormal cervical cells by a trained pathologist. But the CST will only check for the HPV (Human Pappilloma Virus), which is just one alleged cause of cervical cancer. The HPV testing in the CST is only done via computer. And the CST will only be required every 5 years instead of 2 years for the pap smear test.

The CST will still require the same uncomfortable procedure to obtain cervical cells as the pap smear, just less frequently. Only if the HPV virus is found will someone actually visually check your pap smear for abnormal cells.

The issues here are several:
- The CST test is only looking for ONE possible causative factor of cervical cancer, being the HPV,
- The CST ignores all other possible causes of cervical cancer,
- and the less frequent testing (a money saving measure?) is a concern.

I believe these changes may in fact put more women at risk of cervical cancer, and more severe cancer, and will likely kill far more women as a result. Abnormal cells found in the pap smear test are a better indicator of potential cervical cancer, so why the change?

Since 2022 the at-home testing kits for cervical cancer have been available (Cancer Council, 2024), but as you can see from the infographic of this article, the swab doesn’t even get close to the cervix for obtaining any worthwhile cervical cells (or cancer cells) to actually test. It’s just a vaginal test and not a cervical cancer test. It’s next to useless. Or worse, it can be very dangerous (and even deadly) if a woman actually has unknown cervical cancer, and tests her vaginal cells instead of the cervix, and the cancer remains unknown after the at-home test kit. Then because of the cost-cutting measures of the Cancer Council and government health budgets, the woman waits another 5 years to test again – so the cervical cancer can develop and progress much further and become far more serious, or deadly.

I’ve had female patients who have gone from a negative pap smear test (the previous type of test) to CIN 2 or 3 cervical cancer within the 2-year repeated tests. But now it’s a 5 year delay in retesting...

If you are female and have a family history of female hormone or sex organ related cancers, or who have had cervical cancer in the past, you can and should retest much more regularly than 5 years apart. Even if there is no family history of cervical cancer but for ongoing health and prevention, you can and should test more frequently than these organisations say.

Research that was available even at the time of the CST change (Spurgeon et al, 2017) suggests that an HPV infection alone is NOT sufficient to cause cervical cancer! Cervical cancer, and other reproductive cancers in women, are related to female hormones and often an imbalance between the hormones oestrogen and progesterone. The same research also suggests that an immune system dysfunction and inflammation are also equal causative factors in the development and progression of cervical cancer. Other research (in Oct 2017) says these other factors are mandatory for the development of cervical cancer. So pap smears or the new CST are simply not good enough screening tests for this type of cancer.

As a better preventative for cervical cancer, or other female cancers, or in fact ANY cancer, you can get your immune system function checked, inflammation levels tested, and female hormone levels tested regularly for a much better picture for the prevention of ALL female reproductive cancers, and for your overall health.
Ask me for details of these tests, for a better peace of mind.

If you are female and of reproductive age, or even in menopausal age, this information needs to be shared to inform others if the inadequacy of the CST testing and the risks involved. Please share this widely.

Stay healthy!

References:

Cancer Council. (2024). Self collection and the cervical screening test. Retrieved 12th November 2024 from 
www.cancer.org.au/cervicalscreening/what-do-i-need-to-know-about-the-test/self-collection

​Spurgeon, M.E, den Boon , J.A., Mark Horswill, M., Barthakur, S., Forouzan, O., Rader, J.S., Beebe, D.J., Roopra, A., Ahlquist, P., & Lambert, P.F. (2017). Human papillomavirus oncogenes reprogram the cervical cancer microenvironment independently of and synergistically with estrogen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114 (43):E9076-E9085. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1712018114.