2009 brought an important update to how women in the United States should be screened with HPV testing. The importance of testing for high risk HPV types in specific clinical scenarios have been well established and recent data have demonstrated the importance of identification of specific HPV types. The FDA has recently approved a HPV 16 and 18 genotyping test, and in order to assist clinicians with this new test, the ASCCP has put forth a guideline with an algorithm, as well as additional educational information on how to appropriately use this test in women 30 years of age or older.

Educate the Educators: The HPV Vaccines

Fall 2009 Update and Resources - Login Here

This year, the ASCCP expanded our Educate the Educators program by initiating a series of quarterly updates for our membership. This has included PDFs of the articles, as well as a commentary prepared by the Educate the Educators editorial committee. The commentary not only provides a synopsis of the key findings, but also attempts to put them into context. We are also making available for download PowerPoint slides documenting what we believe to be the key message from these articles. From time to time, there were also be news items of general interest to our readership and we will cover these in a "What's New?" section of the Literature Update. The 2009-2010 Educators Editorial Committee is composed of Michael A. Gold, MD, Kenneth L. Noller, MD, Jeffrey Waldman, MD, and Thomas C. Wright, MD.

What is the Educate the Educators' program? In 2005, ASCCP realized that the implementation and rational use of the then new prophylactic HPV vaccines would require the diffusion of expertise in HPV biology throughout the U.S. medical community-with the greatest challenge being in the smaller and mid-sized communities that lack clinicians who have expertise in this area. To help meet that need, ASCCP developed the Educate the Educators' Program, a two armed program featuring a series of non-CME training courses and CME home study assessment programs designed to train ASCCP members and other providers to become local community experts and 'second generation trainers' for Local Education Programs (LEP). The initial non-CME formal training and webinairs are no longer offered.

Note: The non-CME 2009-2010 Educate the Educators' Updates were produced specifically through grants received in 2008-09 from Merck & Company, Hologic, Qiagen, mtm laboratories, and Roche. An online internet activity CME program entitled Targeting Cervical Cancer with the HPV Vaccines is available on the ASCCP Online CME Series. This continuing medical education activity best serves those licensed physicians and advanced practice clinicians who will be counseling about and prescribing HPV vaccines. These include clinicians who make gynecologic diagnosis and management decisions or who provide clinical or consultative primary care for female adolescents and women aged 21 and older, especially clinicians in the fields of family medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.will review those aspects of the biology, epidemiology, and natural history of HPV that have led to the development of vaccines and directed immunization guidelines. The program will help providers identify which patients are most likely to benefit from vaccination against human papillomavirus and answer questions commonly asked by patients and their family members, colleagues and the public about the HPV vaccine. This CME activity also reviews recent efficacy studies of both HPV vaccines and examines immunization-associated adverse events reported to the FDA. Cost effectiveness of HPV vaccination is also addressed as are some frequently asked questions about the vaccines. Note; The Targeting Cervical Cancer with the HPV Vaccines course was produced specifically through grants received in 2005-06 from Merck & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Digene Corporation (now Qiagen), and Roche. All other lectures in this Series were developed and produced free of commercial support.

ASCCP sponsored another Consensus Conference on the Management of Abnormal Cervical Cancer Screening Tests and Management of CIN/AIS, updating the 2001 Consensus Guidelines. At the September 18-19, 2006 meeting in Bethesda, delegates representing the 29 sponsoring Federal agencies and medical organizations in the areas of gynecology, gynecologic oncology, family practice, pathology, epidemiology, and statistics openly discussed, debated and adopted revised guidelines. Centered on the best available data and literature, these new guidelines should focus practice management in lower genital tract disease for the rest of the decade. The new evidence-based guidelines address recent research, with special attention paid to the implications of HPV testing as part of combination screening and the value of modified approaches to special groups, such as young women. The 2006 Consensus Guidelines and Algorithms -- as well as the 2009 Clinical Update and Algorithm on HPV Genotyping -- are available on the Consensus Guidelines webpage.

Medical Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on HPV
Natural History of HPV
Diagnosing HPV
Treatment  Coming in January 2010

A group of international scientists and clinicians with an interest in the HPV field author the quarterly publication entitled HPV TODAY. The publication intends to bridge information between research and clinical use in a readable and friendly manner, and it also intends to present the wide scope of the pathology induced by HPV and on the novel opportunities for prevention and treatment. Copies of the current issue-as well as archived issues-may be obtained from the following link:
http://www.hpvtoday.com/webEng/home/index.php.

Media Room
Consensus Conference Media Room
See also Medical FAQs (above) on the natural history, diagnosis, and treatment of HPV

Patient Education Pamphlets (Free)

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 Adolescents and HPV - What Young Women Should Know
CDC's Cervical Cancer Screening: What Vietnamese Women Should Know
CDC's The Pap Test: Things to Know
CDC's HPV Brochure for Alaska Native Women
CDC's HPV Brochure for Native American Women
ASCCP's HVP Vaccines
ASCCP's Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
What Women Should Know about HPV and Cervical Health
ASCCP's HPV Testing – Is It for Me?
CDC’s HPV Vaccine Questions & Answers
CDC’s Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Infections
CDC’s Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccines
ASCCP's El Virus del Papiloma Humano (VPH)  - Spanish text