GYN PATH Services
Clinical Laboratory Dedicated to Women's Healthcare

January is Cervical Health Awareness month. Statistics show that cervical cancer continues to affect women in the U.S at an alarming rate. Human papillomavirus (HPV) presents a high-risk factor for invasive cervical cancers in women, causing nearly 350,000 deaths every year. Given these statistics, for women over 30 years of age, it is crucial to emphasize and educate patients and providers on the importance of screening patients with Pap+HPV together, also known as co-testing.

GYN PATH Services’ aim is to facilitate these screening tests. It is dedicated to advances in women’s health care and serves physicians, health care providers, and patients in the El Paso region. The privately-owned cytology and pathology laboratory specializes in cervical cancer screening, pathology, and molecular microbiology, including nucleic acid amplification technology (NAATs). Advanced testing methods and state-of-the-art technology allow GYN PATH Services to ensure the right patient gets the right test at the right time.

“We are advancing women’s health care with our cutting-edge testing techniques and state-of-the-art technologies,” says Anita K. Miles, executive director, GYN PATH Services.

Its core offerings include the ThinPrep Pap test, Pap+HPV, Aptima STI and Vaginitis assays, the Cervical DNA Dtex test and surgical pathology samples. Their pathology laboratory was the first to onboard a liquid-based cytology technique locally to test patients for cervical cancer in the region. They have a database of over 150,000 El Paso patients, which enables cytotechnologists and pathologists to review prior medical results within the past five years if processed at GYN PATH Services.
“We have designed our LIS to flag any previous abnormal result that must be reviewed by a pathologist, so nothing is potentially missed. We only offer FDA-preferred test methods that have the highest sensitivity and specificity,” says Miles.

Right Patient, Right Test, Right Time

In 2019, GYN PATH Services announced its latest test offering, the Aptima Mgen Assay for Mycoplasma genitalium bacterium. The first and only FDA-cleared diagnostic test to detect Mycoplasma genitalium, this assay is an in vitro NAAT for the qualitative detection of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) from Mycoplasma genitalium. It uses target-capture, transcription-mediated amplification (TMA), and hybridization protection assay (HPA) technologies to detect 16s rRNA of M. genitalium.

While national and regional laboratories encourage ordering M. Hominis, Ureaplasma, and U. parvum to boost their bottom line, GYN PATH Services does not push testing for financial gain. The extensive testing, detection, and subsequent antimicrobial treatment of these bacteria can cause substantial burdens and economic costs to patients and may result in antimicrobial resistance.
Many other test offerings were added to GYN PATH Services’ arsenal in 2020, including the Right vaginitis assay, the Aptima BV, and CV/TV assay. The improved sensitivity and specificity of this assay over traditional methods in determining the underlying cause of vaginitis not only means identifying the right infection but enabling the right treatment and reducing the potential for recurrent or persistent infections.

This FDA-cleared assay is an in vitro nucleic amplification test that utilizes real-time transcription-mediated amplification (TMA). It provides an accurate and objective method for diagnosing vaginitis, a very common and complex health issue affecting millions of women each year.

“For ultimate flexibility, you may now choose to test for BV, CV/TV, CT/NG, and Mgen at the same time using our RightSwab and the Aptima Orange Multitest swab, either clinician-collected or patient-self-collected. Depending on a patient’s symptoms, physicians can select the Vaginitis or STI Assay, or both,” says Miles.

Taking a Patient-First Approach

ThinPrep liquid-based test uses cells from the cervix or vagina and are rinsed into a vial of liquid sample. Clinicians can obtain a clean, thin layer of the specimen that is reproducible and viable for four weeks which enables treating physicians to add additional tests without having to recollect the patient.

For GYN PATH Services, it is all about a patient-first approach and quality of service rather than the volume of test orders that adds to the patient’s health care bill. When the Pap test outcomes are positive, clinicians re-examine the patients using reflex HPV and HPV genotyping tests. When abnormal, they can perform the DNA Dtex tests to further assess whether the cells are damaged and irreversible, enabling patients to access appropriate treatment.

GYN PATH pathologists personally contact the referring physicians on any case of a concern, such as a malignancy.

Treating physicians have access to their patient’s lab results 24/7 and GYN PATH’s highly skilled and trained medical team for case discussion. It has also implemented superior quality control measures by introducing a 15 percent rescreening of all negative results for Intraepithelial Lesions or Malignancy (NILM) cases. In addition, it focuses on correlation of all tests including surgical specimens, and continuous monitoring of statistics, including ASCUS/SIL ratios and STAT capabilities. Consequently, turnaround time has been reduced to 24 hours.

Cost-Effective Products

To offer cost-effective products and tests for physicians and patients, GYN PATH Services partners with Hologic Corporation, doubling down on its collaborative stance. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hologic developed the EUA Aptima SARS-CoV-2 assay. It is a nucleic acid amplification in vitro diagnostic test intended for the qualitative detection of RNA from SARS-CoV-2. It has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA for the detection of the novel coronavirus. Its RightSwab and the Aptima Multitest swab are approved for nasal patient self-collection under clinician supervision.

The Aptima COVID-19 Assays are processed using Hologic’s fully automated, high-throughput molecular diagnostic Panther system platform. Each panther system can provide initial results in approximately three hours and process more than 1,000 coronavirus tests in 24 hours. Currently, there are 1,000 panther systems in the U.S. GYN PATH Services has three of them.

Entrenched in Women’s Healthcare

GYN PATH sponsors events for women, including triathlons and college health fairs, to create the importance of cervical cancer screening awareness. It also works with the voluntary Baptist Health Clinic and local humane society to donate cervical cancer screenings to patients that are unable to afford them.

Going forward, GYN PATH Services will set up an FNA clinic in EI Paso where clinicians can send patients and immediately confirm results. It is well-positioned to cater to women’s needs with its cost-effective offerings, ensuring an integrative health journey.

“We are celebrating our 40th year serving the community. We are currently moving our laboratory into a new, 12,000 square feet building and adding the ability to offer numerous other testing options as well as a Fine Needle Aspirates (FNAs) room where we will see patients,” says Miles.