Self-Collection Tools for Routine Cervical Cancer Screening: A Review

Abstract

Sub-optimal participation is a major problem with cervical cancer screening in developing countries whichhave no organized national screening program. There are various notable factors such as ‘embarrassment’,‘discomfort’ and ‘no time’ cited by women as they are often also the bread winners for the family. Implementationof self-sampling methods may increase their participation. The aim of this article was to provide a survey ofvarious types of self-sampling tools which are commonly used in collection of cervical cells. We reviewed currentlyavailable self-sampling devices and collated the advantages and disadvantages of each in terms of its acceptanceand its accuracy in giving desired results. In general, regardless of which device is used, self-sampling for cervicalscrapings is highly acceptable to women in most of the studies cited.