Patient's question:
I am a woman, 48 years old this year. Recently, when washing my underwear, I have been finding a lot of curd-like discharge on them, and it smells very bad. I also feel that my private area is always damp and itchy, and my lower abdomen is uncomfortable. Please ask: How are samples taken for HPV and TCT?Doctor's answer:
TCT and HPV tests are very commonly used combined screening methods for cervical cancer in clinical diagnosis. TCT refers to the careful examination of cervical cells using liquid-based cytology, while HPV is primarily the high-risk virus associated with cervical cancer. Therefore, often both cell and viral screening are performed together, which can provide a very accurate preliminary screening to determine if there are any abnormal inflammatory conditions in the cervix. TCT can enhance the detection of HPV exposure at a deeper level of cervical canal cells while collecting cervical canal cells, which further improves the accuracy of subsequent HPV testing. Since HPV is collected using special reagents, the skin irritation caused by TCT will not lead to an increased false-positive rate for HPV.