New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines
November 21, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
Some women may not need to get a Pap test each year. And teens could skip the test until age 21.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) issued their newly revised, evidence-based cervical cancer screening guidelines on Friday. They’re published in the December issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
The new guidelines advise that most women under 30 years old should have a cervical screening (Pap test) once every two years rather than annually. Women age 30 and older may be re-screened once every three years provided that they’ve had three consecutive negative cervical cytology test results. According to ACOG, women vaccinated against HPV still need to follow the same screening guidelines as unvaccinated women.
Exceptions
Women with certain risk factors will still need to be screened more often. The risk factors include: HIV, immunosuppression, exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES) in utero, or previous treatment for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2, CIN 3, or cervical cancer.
The ACOG now recommends that women may wait until they’re 21 to have their first Pap test. Invasive cervical cancer is very rare in women under age 21, and the ACOG noted that HPV-related precancerous lesions (dysplasia) in adolescents usually resolve on their own without treatment. Researchers have also seen an increase in premature births among women who had excisional procedures for dysplasia.
“Adolescents have most of their childbearing years ahead of them, so it’s important to avoid unnecessary procedures that negatively affect the cervix,” said Alan G. Waxman, MD, who headed the document by ACOG’s Committee on Practice Bulletins-Gynecology.
Cervical Cancer Rates
Due to the widely used Pap test, cervical cancer rates have plunged more than 50% in the last 30 years. In 2006, only 6.5 per 100,000 women had cervical cancer, compared to 14.8 per 100,000 in 1975. Currently, most new cervical cancer cases in the US occur in women who either haven’t been screened at all or those who get screened very rarely.
How do you feel about the new cervical cancer screening guidelines?
(Image via MorgueFile)
I don’t agree with them. I knew a girl in high school and as a senior she had cervical cancer and also breast cancer. She had to have surgery for both, as well as chemo. I think screening is important and I don’t think it’s unwise to get a young women in there at an early age and teach her what to watch for at the same time as the first testing.