Kelsey-Seybold Clinic to Implement New Technology for Detecting Cervical Cancer

Houston (April 9, 2001) – Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, a multi-specialty healthcare provider dedicated to delivering the most advanced level of comprehensive care, today announced its adoption of the ThinPrep® Pap Test Kelsey-Seybold Clinic is the first multi-specialty medical group in the Houston area to use the ThinPrep Pap Test as its primary method of cervical cancer screening. The new ThinPrep Pap Test will allow the physicians of Kelsey-Seybold Clinic to improve their detection of cervical cancer and thereby help safeguard women’s health.

“Kelsey-Seybold Clinic is committed to providing its patients with effective technology to detect disease early,” said Spencer R. Berthelsen, MD Medical Director for Managed Care of Kelsey-Seybold Clinic. “After a thorough evaluation, we determined that the ThinPrep Pap Test offered significant improvements over the 50-year-old conventional Pap Smear. Providing this new, proven technology to our patients was simply the right thing to do.”

Kelsey-Seybold’s First Colony Clinic is a multi-specialty practice located at 16659 Southwest Freeway, in Methodist Health Care Center’s Office Building #2. First Colony’s three physicians, who specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Sophia Burns, MD, Shelena Lalji, MD, and Eric Peterson, MD, are pleased to offer this new technology to their patients in the Sugarland area.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this revolutionary new liquid-based Pap test in May of 1996 as a replacement for the conventional Pap smear. Clinical trials have shown the ThinPrep Pap Test to be significantly more effective than the conventional smear for the detection of low-grade and more severe lesions in a variety of patient populations. The ThinPrep Pap Test is the only new thin-layer, slide preparation technology that is approved to carry this labeling. Kelsey-Seybold’s over 300 physicians in more than 20 locations in the Houston area will be offering the test to their female patients.

The ThinPrep Pap Test often eliminates the need for women who have suspicious results on a traditional pap test to have a second test because it provides a more detailed view of the cells. That’s great news for women who have had multiple pap tests in a year. Using the ThinPrep Pap Test will save women time and the anxiety that comes from waiting for the results of multiple pap tests. “Deciding to use the ThinPrep Pap Test as our standard of care for Kelsey-Seybold patients is in keeping with our philosophy of patient care,” adds Eric Peterson, MD, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist at Kelsey-Seybold’s First Colony Clinic, “We are able to offer cutting edge technology and convenience at the same time.”

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 12,800 American women will be diagnosed with cervical cancer this year and about 4,800 will die of the disease. Cervical cancer is 98 percent curable if detected early, yet one-third of the women diagnosed with the disease will die from it and the remaining two-thirds will undergo radical treatment to avert terminal illness because the cancer was not detected early enough.

The ThinPrep Pap Test is a liquid-based test that employs a fluid medium to preserve cells and a special processor to eliminate debris and distribute cells on a slide in a uniform, thin layer. The ThinPrep System consists of the ThinPrep® 2000 Processor and related reagents, filters, and other supplies.

Cytyc®, ThinPrep®, and PreservCyt® are registered trademarks and ThinPrep® Pap Test™ is a trademark of Cytyc Corporation.