With the new guidelines, the American Cancer Society recommends against annual screening. Here are a few points to remember: Screening with the Pap test alone every 3 years is extremely safe and will decrease the number of false positive results without leading to an increase in cancer or cancer deaths For women ages 30 years and older, testing with both the HPV test and the Pap test further decreases the risk of cancer and advanced pre-cancers. When both tests are normal, no cervical cancer screening test should be done again for 5 years. Women younger than age 21 do not need to be screened for cervical cancer. Women over the age of 65 who have been regularly screened, and women who have had a hysterectomy (with removal of the cervix) for reasons not related to cervical cancer or pre-cancer, should no longer be screened. Women should talk to their doctors about what screening test to use and how often, and should question their doctors if they think they are being screened too often. Women can and should still see their doctors more often than every 3 or 5 years - just not for a Pap test. Doctor visits should be scheduled for general wellness, with Pap tests and HPV tests given according to guideline.
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 15:22:27 +0000
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