Professors Lee Jaegwan and Cho Hyunwoong's Team at Korea University Guro Hospital Awarded Excellent Paper Prize by the Korean Cancer Association

Clinical Performance and Diagnostic Accuracy of HPV Self-Testing Revealed
"Suggesting the Possibility of Cervical Cancer Self-Testing"

From the left, Jaegwan Lee and Hyunwoong Cho, professors of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Korea University Guro Hospital.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Korea University Guro Hospital announced on the 20th that the research team of Obstetrics and Gynecology Professors Lee Jae-gwan and Cho Hyun-woong won the Excellent Paper Award at the 'AOS 2022 and the 48th Annual Meeting of the Korean Cancer Association' held on the 17th.

The awarded paper was titled "Performance and Diagnostic Accuracy of Human Papillomavirus Testing on Self-Collected Urine and Vaginal Samples in a Referral Population."

The research team compared the high-risk HPV detection performance using cervical samples collected by clinicians and vaginal samples and urine self-collected by patients among 314 patients who visited the hospital due to abnormal findings in cervical cancer screening. The study results showed that HPV testing using self-collected samples was considerably similar to clinician-collected HPV testing in diagnosing precancerous cervical lesions. However, self-collected urine samples were somewhat less accurate compared to clinician-collected cervical samples.

Professor Lee Jae-gwan, the principal investigator, stated, "This study suggests the possibility of safe HPV testing through self-collection when hospital visits are difficult after the COVID-19 pandemic." He added, "The biggest obstacle to overcoming cervical cancer is the environment where patients find it difficult to undergo testing. If HPV testing can be done through self-collection without visiting the hospital, the incidence of cervical cancer can be significantly reduced."

Professor Cho Hyun-woong, the first author of the paper, said, "Although cervical cancer screening is very effective in preventing cancer, the screening rate does not exceed 60%. We hope that HPV testing using self-collection will be widely used to prevent cervical cancer through the results of this study."

Meanwhile, this study was conducted with the support of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and was published in December 2020 in the "Cancer Research and Treatment" journal of the Korean Cancer Association.