New Pap Test recommendations
Ladies, this one is for you, and it is good news. You have probably heard of a Pap smear. That is the test for cancer of the cervix, also called a Pap test. It goes along with everyone’s least favorite exam, the pelvic exam. Up until last fall, you were supposed to get a Pap test every year as an adult. But now, hallelujah! The recommendations have changed. As of November 2009, the experts at the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have decided you can wait until you are 21 to get your first Pap. After that, you can probably get by with one Pap every two years in your twenties and one every third year in your thirties!
Why are the new Pap recommendations good news? Prior to this decision, lots of young women were coming up with abnormal Paps, due to infections with the human papillomavirus, one cause of cancer of the cervix. This sent them down a long road of testing and anxiety. It turns out most of those HPV infections cleared up on their own and didn’t cause cancer. Since cancer of the cervix is a slow-growing cancer, and lots of women catch HPV but then get rid of it, ACOG relaxed their previous recommendations. This will save a lot of anxiety and money.
But before you cancel the calendar alert on your new iPad, please read on. The changed recommendations are only for the Pap test, and apply only as long as your Pap results are all normal and only if you have not had problems with your cervix or any immune system disease. You still might want to have a yearly pelvic exam for other reasons.
Lots of people confuse a Pap with a pelvic exam. A Pap is just a lab test. It was invented by a doctor named George N. Papanicolaou and has saved millions of lives by finding cancer of the cervix early. The cervix is the narrow, open end of the uterus, located in the back of your vagina. To do a Pap test, a health provider collects cells from the cervix with a soft brush or small scraper.
The Pap test used to be called a Pap smear, because the cells from the cervix were smeared on a glass slide. Now it is mostly called a Pap test, because commonly the cells are not smeared but are suspended in liquid, then spun down and dropped onto a slide, where they are examined by a computer and a human technician for signs of cancer.
A pelvic exam is a physical examination of your female parts by a health professional. You get a pelvic exam when you think you have a yeast infection, or to screen for a sexually transmitted infection, or for any number of other reasons. A pelvic exam does not have to include a Pap smear, just like an exam of your throat doesn’t have to include a strep culture. A pelvic exam also might just be part of your general health checkup.
Many doctors recommend that you get a checkup once a year. I am one of them. Not only can we help you stay on a healthy track, but we can find problems while they are still small. Specific to this discussion, this would include testing for so-called silent STIs, or sexually transmitted infections that have no symptoms, like chlamydia. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends regular screening for all STIs for most young, sexually active individuals.
If you haven’t started having sex yet, I still recommend a yearly checkup because, believe it or not, there’s more to life and health than sex.
Drop your health questions in Peggy Spencer’s box in the lobby of Student Health and Counseling, or e-mail her directly at pspencer@unm.edu. All questions will be considered, and all who submit letters will remain anonymous. This column has general health information only and cannot replace a visit to a health care provider.
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