Debunking Myths About the Pap Smear
The Pap smear is one of the most common routine medical tests that women get,
yet persistent myths and misinformation still abound. Have you heard the following?
- You only need a Pap smear if you're sexually active. Not true. Even
though most cases of cervical cancer are associated with HPV (human papilloma virus),
which is a sexually transmitted infection, there are reports of women who
have never had sexual intercourse who have had cervical cancer. We don't have
an explanation for this . . . yet.
- You don't need a Pap smear if you've passed menopause. Not true.
In fact, one in four cervical cancers develops in women over 65. Since Medicare
began covering Pap smears in 1990, the incidence of invasive and noninvasive
cervical cancer in medically insured women has decreased significantly.
- You don't need a Pap smear if you've had a hysterectomy. Not true.
Pap smears are also useful in picking up abnormal changes in the cells of
the vaginal wall. If your hysterectomy was for a non-cancerous reason, most
doctors recommend a Pap smear every three years.
- You should douche before having a Pap smear. The opposite is true!
Douching may remove some of the cells your doctor is trying to collect on
the smear. In fact, there are very few medical reasons for douching at all.
- If you get a call to come in for a repeat Pap test, it's got to be bad
news. Not true. Many times, the sample obtained from the traditional Pap
smear is simply "inadequate," meaning not enough cells were obtained.
This is annoying and inconvenient for doctors and patients, but the "better
safe than sorry" advice applies here. One of the newer technologies,
the ThinPrep® Pap test system aims to reduce the number of repeat tests needed
by capturing and preserving the entire cervical sample in a container of preservative.
This way, another smear can be prepared from the same sample if necessary,
rather than having the patient return.
- Pap smear results are not that reliable; cervical cancers
are commonly overlooked. Not true. In fact, if a woman gets her Pap smear
annually, the chance of an abnormality being missed over five years is extremely
small.
Created: 8/29/2003 - Donnica Moore, M.D.
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