SGO: Conference Spotlights Cervical Cancer, HPV Vaccine

THURSDAY, March 13 (HealthDay News) -- Cervical cancer is a major focus of this year's Society of Gynecologic Oncologists' (SGO) Annual Meeting on Women's Cancer, March 9-12 in Tampa, Fla., with eight sessions dedicated to issues surrounding cervical cancer and use of the humanpapilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.

With the HPV vaccine now in its second year post-approval, the presentations are intended to provide gynecologic specialists with a forum for discussing emerging issues and challenges surrounding the HPV vaccine as well as conveying emerging data on the bivalent and quadrivalent HPV vaccines.

In one session, Warner K. Huh, M.D., of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, presented study data showing that participants who received the quadrivalent HPV vaccine were less likely to have abnormal Pap smears and less likely to need invasive cervical procedures such as colposcopy and cervical biopsy. Other sessions presented data on long-term side effects of HPV vaccination and findings regarding women's unawareness of their risk of HPV infection.

"We hope, by putting the spotlight on cervical cancer at this meeting, we can continue to extend and expand the knowledge about its prevention and treatability beyond the medical community to the general public in the hopes of reducing and even eliminating its existence," explains SGO President Andrew Berchuck, M.D.

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