Simple vinegar test 'cuts cervical cancer deaths by a third'

A simple vinegar test cut cervical cancer rates among Indian women by nearly a third and could prevent 73,000 deaths worldwide each year, the authors of a large-scale study have said.

Wealthy countries have managed to reduce such fatalities by 80 per cent thanks to the widespread use of regular Pap smears that can detect the disease at an early, treatable stage.

But it remains the leading cause of cancer death among women in India and many other developing countries lacking the money, doctors, nurses or laboratories for widespread screening.

The inexpensive vinegar test, which has a comparable accuracy to Pap smears, offers a solution to that problem.

A primary health care worker swabs the woman's cervix with vinegar, which causes pre-cancerous tumors to turn white. The results are known a minute later when a bright light is used to visually inspect the cervix.

Aside from the cost savings, the instantaneous results are a major advantage for women in rural areas who might otherwise have to travel for hours to see a doctor.

The test could also be useful in the United States, where 40 per cent of women do not get treatment following an abnormal Pap smear, said Electra Paskett, a gynecological cancer expert at Ohio State University.

"We have a problem with follow-up," she said.

"The thing in their program that was really wonderful is they assured follow-up - their completion rate was phenomenal."

The randomized study of 150,000 women living in Mumbai slums found that the vinegar test was able to reduce cervical cancer deaths by 31 per cent through early detection and treatment.

The 15-year study also found that the vinegar test sidesteps a common problem of overdiagnosis. The incidence of cervical cancer was essentially the same among the women who were screened every other year and those who were simply taught how to watch for warning signs.

"We hope our results will have a profound effect in reducing the burden of cervical cancer in India and around the world," said lead study author Surendra Srinivas Shastri, a professor of preventive oncology at Mumbai's Tata Memorial Hospital.

"This is the first trial to identify a cervical cancer screening strategy that reduces mortality and is feasible to implement on a broad scale throughout India and in other developing countries."