A new cervical cancer screening project in Western Australia’s remote areas is reducing waiting times for testing from weeks to a matter of minutes using new technology.
It’s hoped the method will be one day expanded across the nation.
WA’s Country Health Service Obstetrics and Gynaecology head Jared Watts said early detection was crucial.
“Women can do their own test and it takes away that embarrassment, takes away the pain and discomfort,” he said.
“If we do detect the changes in the cervix early it is very preventable.
“It’s also very important to treat in an early state if people do want to have future pregnancies.”
Higher cancer rates in Indigenous women
Rates of cervical cancer are up to three times higher in Aboriginal women, mainly due to under-screening.
Dr Watts has travelled to several communities, including Bidyadanga, WA's largest Aboriginal community, about 1,600 kilometres north of Perth.
He said the usual screening process for women living in rural and remote areas involved arranging appointments months in advance, and travelling hundreds or even thousands of kilometres.
“That might mean a week away from home and they have to worry about their family and their children while they’re away [when they're] having that appointment in a larger town,” he said.
However, the new process, using a GeneXpert machine to test samples, was much quicker and more convenient, he said.
“People come in groups together so they support each other, they don’t have to leave their communities," he said.
“Children can come to the clinic so they don’t have to worry about that, and it’s a really community environment."
The test is self-administered, and the results are known in 45 minutes, with women who show signs of the disease able to be examined straight away.
Women take their own swabs, which are then run through the machine and a test result reveals whether the virus causing cervical cancer is in the sample.
"Then, if it is, we can actually have the technology to do what we call a colposcopy so then that's to look at the cervix under a microscope right there and then," he explained.
"Previously this was a 20 to 30-kilo piece of equipment but now it's the size of an iPhone."
Reduced anxiety
Project leader Aime Powell from Notre Dame University said the reduced waiting time helped cut stress levels.
“I think what became really apparent was the remoteness and the accessibility difficulties that can be experienced in accessing health care services,” she said.
“They may have to leave the community to travel into hospital, they’re travelling on flooded roads, it’s extremely difficult to access a screening service."
Dr Powell, who’s been working in cervical cancer screening for many years, said increasing accessibility was the key.
“I love the fact that we can prevent this cancer, it is a highly preventable disease and I think as a mum of two young boys, I’m wanting to reach other mums who might be finding it difficult to screen and really prevent this from occurring," she said.
“I believe that if we can increase participation on screening there is the opportunity to stop cervical abnormalities from progressing.”
Big uptake from women in remote areas
She said communities had been very receptive.
“We have been so humbled by the uptake and participation and positivity from the communities," she said.
"I think this initiative has been really different in that our local health care providers have been invited to visit, and they’ve had a huge success rate in recruiting those women and it’s been very much embraced."
The collaboration involving Notre Dame University, WA Country Health Service, the WA Cervical Cancer Prevention Program and other national partners has been funded at a federal level.
It's expected to be evaluated early next year with a hope it will eventually go national.
