Is It Safe to Get Pap Smears Less Often?

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Women don't need pap tests and HPV tests....women should be offered a HPV primary triage testing program, the Dutch are about to introduce one, women will be offered 5 hrHPV primary tests and only those positive and at risk from this rare cancer will be offered a 5 yearly pap test. Those negative can retest for HPV infrequently, the Dutch program is offered at 30,35,40,50 and 60. Those negative and monogamous or no longer sexually active can forget all testing and revisit the subject if their risk profile changes. Only 5% of women are HPV positive by age 40. There is also a self test option, the Delphi Screener, to test for HPV...this device is also being launched in Singapore next month and is will be available in many other countries shortly. This program will greatly reduce testing, over-treatment and is more likely to prevent these rare cancers including the 50% of adenocarcinoma and 25% of squamous cell currently missed by pap testing. Women should demand access to this type of program, sadly pap testing has generated a highly profitable industry into the treatment of CIN and many will not welcome something that will see over-treatment rates plummet. The Delphi Bioscience website contains more information and the Health Council of the Netherlands - under prevention and programs for 2011.

Elizabeth 8:34AM February 27, 2012

Is it safe for a woman to have pap smear? what if that instrument was used to person who is infected with HIV?

quickway 12:09PM October 06, 2010

You're still having too many pap smears.
Screening doesn't work in women under 25, it just sends them off for biopsies or LEEP after false positive results. In the UK, women are offered screening from 25.
In Finland and the Netherlands, it's 30 and then 5 yearly. (Finland has the smallest rates for cervical cancer and biopsies)
Every 5 year is often enough to catch cancer and to protect you from false positives and unnecessary and potentially harmful LEEP, cone biopsies and other biopsies. (the first two cause the most damage)
Healthy women can be left with health problems after unnecessary treatments and can have problems if they want to have children later in life. Miscarriages, infertility, problems during pregnancy, more c-sections, premature delivery/babies...damage to your cervix should be avoided.
Living in the Netherlands I noticed even the prostitutes are only tested 5 yearly from 30, yet in the States doctors test virgins, women who've had complete hysterectomies for non-cancerous conditions, the elderly and the very young...my friend's mother who lives in Florida is 66 and has had 50 pap smears and two negative biopsies.
If she were living in another country, she might have had 5 or 7 tests and probably no biopsies and if she's very low risk, she might have skipped smears altogether.
I find it hard to understand why more and more tests appear every year for an uncommon cancer while far more common cancers are ignored. Also, where is the HPV test for men? Men also get HPV and spread it around...if women could ask men to get tested before they had sex, they could make sure they were never exposed to HPV. Yet the focus is always on women and screening.
Also, what about prevention?
If you use condoms every time with a partner of unknown HPV status, you reduce the risk of HPV by 70% (maybe higher with perfect condom use)
Also, wait until you're 18 or older to have sex and stick to one faithful partner.
Many women go on the Pill and rely on paps to pick up any problem - one third of women who get cancer have had normal paps.
1% of women would get this cancer in an unscreened world, 0.65% are helped by smears. (0.35% get false negatives) 99% will have no issue with cancer and can't be helped by smears, yet annual screening sends 95% of you for biopsies - 2 yearly - 77%...3 yrly - 65%
Look at your risk profile and if you have smears, protect yourself from harmful over-screening.
My references are taken from an informative site - Dr Joel Sherman's Medical Privacy blog under women's privacy issues. (Articles by Dr DeMay, Dr Raffle and L. Koutsky)
Dr Raffle, UK expert, says 1000 women need regular smears for 35 years to save one woman from cervical cancer.
So, it's important not to panic and overdo smears. Too much time is spent worrying about this uncommon cancer, while women ignore serious risks to their health - binge drinking, obesity and smoking.

Liz 3:21AM May 10, 2010

As an internist and advocate for women’s health, I was delighted to see that this article addresses such valuable information about HPV and the important tools available to help protect people from the virus. However, I noticed that one vital health tool is not mentioned for women - the HPV test. In 2003, the FDA approved the HPV test for women 30 and over in combination with the Pap test. With screening intervals now extended with the revised ACOG guidelines, using a more sensitive screening approach, such as Pap plus HPV testing, is becoming more important. It’s important for women to understand that the Pap test, when used alone, can miss cervical abnormalities up to 50 percent of the time. Women age 30 and older, those most at risk for developing cervical cancer, need to know that when the Pap test is combined with the HPV test, accuracy rates increase to nearly 100 percent. Overall, I advise all of my friends, family and colleagues that cervical cancer is best prevented when using a three-tool approach: the HPV vaccine, the Pap test and the HPV test.

Marie Savard MD of PA 9:53AM February 10, 2010