Pap-smear collaboration may cut error rates
NeoPath Inc. (Redmond WA) and the Yale University School of Medicine (New Haven, CT) have announced a collaborative agreement under which Yale will use the NeoPath AutoPap Primary Screening System to screen eligible Pap-smear patients for cervical cancer. Yale will also collaborate with NeoPath to investigate future applications of the AutoPap technology to detect other cancers and to use in molecular probes for specific diseases. The AutoPap System consists of high-speed video microscopes, visual intelligence sofware, and ultrafast morphology computers; it is expected to help improve testing reliability. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (Washington, DC) has endorsed conventional Pap smears, which NeoPath says can yield error rates as high as 25%.