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Monday's Health Report: New at-home cervical cancer test could help encourage more regular tests
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BATON ROUGE — The first at-home device that can detect cervical cancer has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Experts hope it'll encourage more women to get screened.
It's called the Teal Wand and users of the device collect their own sample and send it off to a lab for testing for Human Papillomavirus, which causes most of this type of cancer.
It's an alternative to the traditional test — a pap smear — done by a doctor.
"We need to find better ways to screen patients and what we're doing just really isn't working well enough,” William Dahut, the chief scientific officer at the American Cancer Society, said.
The American Cancer Society applauds the new FDA approval of the device, hoping that it'll encourage more women to be regularly tested. It's estimated that about one in four adults is not up to date on cervical cancer screening recommendations, according to 2021 data.
The Teal Wand requires a prescription. After that, you can request the kit at the Teal Health website. The results are then reviewed by a clinician and shared back. If they're positive, you will be referred for a follow-up.
The company plans to begin shipping the kits in June and is in talks with health insurance companies about having the kit covered. But for those without insurance, the company says the cost will be announced within the next month.
"You can do home mortgages, buy a car, you know, do all complicated financial transactions, but I think we need to think about ways to do medical care, medical treatment, medical evaluations in the same way as we think about so many things today in our current life, and this is a great first step,” Dahut said.
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