Speaker

Dr Arjola Xhaja

Specialist for obstetrics and gynecology with additional qualification in gynecological cytology, CytoMol Laboratory for Cytology and Molecular Biology, Frankfurt, Germany.

Overview

Germany has obligatory insurances for the whole population. About 100 public health insurances are accessible for all. They cover over 90% of the population while about 10% are privately insured.

In Germany since 1971 women covered by the public healthcare insurances were offered annual conventional cytology for cervical cancer screening (CC) starting at 20 years with no upper age limit in a nonorganized system. On 1 January 2020 the German regulatory institution Federal Joint Committee (GB-A) changed the screening program and introduced the new regulations with contesting. In women from the age of 35 years carried out every three years. In case of -already low-grade- abnormalities an algorithm demands expert colposcopy.

Meanwhile several technological advances like LBC, imaging and digital cytology (AI) to improve cervical cytology, resulting in increased disease detection and efficiency, have come into routine use in our laboratory. CytoMol is the largest labs for CC screening in a single site in Germany. LBC with computer-assistance has been offered as standard in co-testing since 2020. We will share with you our experience in that field and with AI use in routine screening.