What is a Pap test? Is it Necessary?

Pap test is used to check for early signs of cervical cancer. Globally, cervical cancer accounted for an estimated 528,000 new cancer cases worldwide and for 266,000 deaths in 2012. Cervical cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosis and cause of death among gynecologic cancers in the United States, with lower incidence and mortality rates than uterine corpus or ovarian cancer. In the United States, almost 13,000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer and approximately 4100 cancer-related deaths occur each year.

Risk Factors of Developing Cervical Cancer

• Early onset of sexual activity

• Multiple sexual partners

• A high-risk sexual partner (ex, a partner with multiple sexual partners or known HPV infection)

• History of sexually transmitted infections (ex, Chlamydia trachomatis, genital herpes)

• History of vulvar or vaginal squamous intraepithelial neoplasia or cancer (HPV infection is also the etiology of most cases of these conditions)

• Immunesuppression (ex, human immunodeficiency virus infection - HIV)

• Smoking

What is a Pap test?

To do a Pap test, your doctor will push apart the walls of your vagina using a device that looks like a duck beak (called a speculum). Then, your doctor will use a small tool to gently scrape cells from your cervix. This process can be uncomfortable but should not hurt. Taking deep breath and trying not to clench the vaginal muscles will help ease the process. The pathologist will then look at the cells under a microscope to see if they are abnormal.

When should a woman start having Pap tests?

Women should start having Pap tests when they turn 21. They do not need to be sexually active before they start getting Pap tests. Until 30 years of age pap test is performed every 3 years as long as the results are within normal limits. When they turn 30, their doctors might also suggest doing another test to check for cervical cancer, called an HPV test. When pap test is combined with HPV test it increases the accuracy and therefore can be repeated every 5 years if the results are normal.

Women age 65 and older should stop having Pap tests if they meet all of these requirements:

•They have never smoked.

•They do not have a new sex partner since their last Pap test.

•They had Pap tests done regularly until they turned 65.

•They had 3 normal Pap tests in a row.

•They had no abnormal Pap tests in the past 10 years.

Do I need to get Pap tests if I had the HPV vaccine?

Yes. You still need to get Pap tests if you got the HPV vaccine. Getting the HPV vaccine reduces your chances of getting cervical cancer since the virus that causes the cervical cancer is HPV. But it does not completely protect you. You still need to have pap test to check for cancer.

Do I need to get Pap tests if I had a hysterectomy?

There are two types of Hysterectomy, complete and partial. Cervix is removed along with the uterus in complete hysterectomy and in that case, you will no longer need pap test. However, if you have partial Hysterectomy with the cervix intact, you still need pap test.

What can you do to prevent Cervical cancer?

• Avoid Smoking

• Avoid Multiple sexual partners

• Get tested for HPV and cervical abnormality

• Use Condom for sexual intercourse

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