Juaneda Hospitals cares about women's health with the event 'HPV Update: The Importance of Multidisciplinary Vaccination.'
On Thursday, October 24, the "HPV Update: The Importance of Multidisciplinary Vaccination" event took place at the auditorium of Juaneda Miramar Hospital. It focused on the latest developments in the prevention of diseases caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), particularly cervical cancer in high-risk populations.
The event, attended by doctors and other healthcare professionals from various specialties within Juaneda Hospitals, was opened by Dr. José Luis Vidal, head of the Gynecology Department. It featured three lectures aimed at providing updates across all healthcare fields.
Gynecologist Dr. Julio Velásquez discussed "HPV and Cervical Cancer." Dr. Eliana Cortés, an Internal Medicine specialist, gave a presentation on "HPV Pathology Beyond Cervical Cancer." Lastly, Dr. Álvaro Camacho, a pharmacist, spoke about the "Vaccination Circuit of the Juaneda Group and Funding."
"This update session, aimed at various medical and healthcare specialties from all Juaneda Hospital centers, was held due to the group's interest in women's health and in keeping our specialists updated on something as relevant as HPV," said Dr. José Luis Vidal.
"Juaneda Hospitals cares about keeping up with HPV updates, boosting vaccination, which since early 2023 has been extended to boys (previously, it was only for girls aged 12 to 13) and even developing catch-up initiatives for women over 18 who missed the vaccine but wish to receive it upon individualized recommendation," Dr. Vidal also stated.
He added, "It is important that this update has reached other specialists who may not have extensive knowledge about HPV, such as pediatricians and gynecologists, to inform them about how we are acting on the virus and vaccination," emphasized the director of Gynecology at Juaneda Hospitals.
Scientific evidence indicates that while 80% of women will come into contact with HPV during their lifetime, only 5-10% of them will have a persistent infection that is not naturally cleared and will be at risk of developing cervical cancer (or uterine cancer). "We hope that with widespread vaccination, this can be eliminated in a few years."
"With the recent inclusion of boys, all adolescents aged 12 to 13 are now being vaccinated. Once the entire population is vaccinated," Dr. Vidal continues, "we will be in a position to eliminate this cancer, an achievement that will be recognized when the worldwide incidence is below 4/100,000 women."
The incidence of this oncological disease in women was already significantly reduced through the implementation of opportunistic screening programs, performing cytology during routine gynecological check-ups.
"Until we discovered that the cause of cervical cancer was the virus, the only preventive test we had was cytology. Now we know that if there is no virus, there is no cancer, so in the near future, women's screening will likely shift from cytology to virus detection."
Screening programs should be conducted, according to ministerial orders and scientific society recommendations, using HPV DNA detection as the first test. If positive, it should be followed by cytology. This establishes a personalized risk of developing high-grade intraepithelial lesions in the cervix, leading to further complementary tests.
Currently, not all women are vaccinated, especially beyond a certain age. "We inform them that any woman, at any age, can get vaccinated," but while this vaccination becomes more widespread, "both screening methods—cytology, which will eventually decline, and virus detection—are still in use."
The update event held at Juaneda Hospitals "explained everything related to HPV and the development of cervical cancer, as well as other types of lesions (anal, oropharyngeal, penile cancers, and Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis), where HPV is the cause in a high percentage of cases."
It also explained the vaccination circuit at Juaneda for women treated for precancerous lesions (with vaccines provided by Public Health) and for patients who choose to pay for the vaccine voluntarily if it is not subsidized by the public health system, based on individualized recommendations.
Additionally, the issue of "pregnant women, who have been vaccinated against whooping cough for years, and who until recently had to go to the health center to receive the vaccine, but thanks to an agreement with the Ministry of Health, they can now be vaccinated in our clinics, eliminating the need for travel" was addressed.
Share