For those of you who do cytopathology.....

[WEBB PINKERTON]

HPV testing could be replacing morphology very soon. March 12th FDA could be putting a large nail in the coffin for your cytology departments......

http://www.fda.gov/AdvisoryCommittees/Calendar/ucm381983.htm

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[Cellpathology]

praise god

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Praise god is hardly the response some will have. There are some fortunant soles that make money off of cytopathology. Not everyone is doing the test for nothing, especially thoese of us who fought for direct billing.

If you are in a state that has outlawed client billing for pap tests that will be rearing its ugly head again since its perfectly legal for molecular. Even more great news for pathology!

 

[AFM]

Roche's argument for primary screening is from the ATHENA trial, which of course Roche funded and compensated the authors for.

It is likely a fine study, but perfectly illustrates how terrible the mega-lab corporations (3/4 of them where the cytology for the study was performed) actually are at detecting HSIL (~50% sensitivity). That's what happens when you chain a cytotech to a scope and force them to overscreen. It is a result of a policy of treating missed lesions as a litigation write-off for profit.

Ultimately it's sad and will be terrible for the cytotechs who work at the mega-lab corps. It's going to be much better for patients though, in the long run.

And I'm not convinced that anyone is making money from reading paps anymore. Probably sub-$5 profit which would be erased by any successful litigation.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

You are probably right. Get rid of a subjective test with one that is less subjective. But it would be bad for patients if the country loses the infrastructure to do pap screening just in case HPV testing doesnt perform as well in practice.

The field of cytopathology pretty much killed itself off. I'm not shocked sensitivity is so low for HSIL due to unrealistic productivity demands brought on by low profit margins. Before client billing was outlawed in my state, I was seeing labs doing pap tests for around 16 bucks. Hell, supplies cost like 10 unless you are a mega-lab.

Tissue profits are heading down the same path unfortunantly.