In the Netherlands, a series of self-sampling studies have been performed among screening non-attendees (PROHTECT-1, -2, -3, and -3b), which collectively have shown that that offering self-sampling can improve the cervical cancer screening program. Currently, a study among regular screening responders is ongoing (IMPROVE). In this prospective randomized pilot implementation trial of HPV self-sampling in primary screening, a comparison of cervical screening (using HPV testing plus reflex cytology triage testing) via self-sampling and clinician-sampling is performed. When proven clinically non-inferior to HPV testing on physician-collected cervical scrapes, HPV self-sampling may not only be used to complement current screening programs by increasing screening coverage (i.e., targeting non-attendees), but may also be offered as alternative to all women invited for cervical screening.
*) PROHTECT/IMPROVE study team: J Berkhof, FJ van Kemenade, LF Massuger, NJ Polman, VM Verhoef, AT Hesselink, RD Steenbergen, PJ Snijders, CJ Meijer, M Gök, L Rozendaal, R. Ebisch, RP Bosgraaf, RL Bekkers, WJ Melchers, J Bulten, LI Overbeek, AL de Vries, M Babović, JW Spruyt, F Voorhorst, JA Beliën, W Quint; Departments of Pathology and Epidemiology/Biostatistics, VUmc, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Departments of Obstetrics/Gynaecology and Medical Microbiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Department of Pathology, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Netherlands; DDL, Rijkswijk, Netherlands; PALGA, Houten, Netherlands; Screening Organisations Midden-West, Zuid-West and Oost, Netherlands; RIVM, Netherlands.