Good news for people living with cervical cancer, thanks to a basic lab test kit that collected self-sampled urine and blood.
Cervical cancer, the most common type of gynecological cancer in Canadian women, remains the country’s second-leading cause of cancer death and a declining field in Canada. In 2019, the country saw 1,375 new cases and 115 deaths from the disease.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the BodometerTM cervical cancer benefit package package for families on July 8, 2019. The package includes a Bodometer self-testing kit for counting urine and blood, and is available for men and for women from local clinics.
“This test kit has the capacity to test to see if the cancerous cells in the cervix are in good health, to trigger immunotherapy, and to allow a reasonable reduction in a patient’s wait times – all without the patient having to go through the chemo that is a standard of care for those who have cancer,” said the prime minister.
The test kit uses a temperature-triggered chamber, which creates a real-time profile of a cancer cell. The single process sample card is inserted into a plasma bank that offers a single test load to each patient, and carries a bonus of 1,600 polyphenols, including 99 beneficial amino acids.
“Whether you go up through the standard chemotherapy or this new suite of solutions, it just doesn’t adversely impact a woman’s chance of survival,” said Dr. Marcia Lamontagne, after reviewing the portable, lightweight kit that she co-posts with her colleague Dr. Annemieke Jonsson.
THE BODOMETER COST: Almost $1,200 ($769 for the kit even for women), Lalor Heather, a surgeon and co-principal investigator on the Bodometer prototype project at UNC Health Sciences, said the cost is at least $1,000.
