Knoxville OB/GYN: new pap test guidelines won't compromise women's health

Knoxville OB/GYN: new pap test guidelines won't compromise women's health

By ERICA ESTEP
6 News Anchor/Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- There's more confusing health news for women. Newly released guidelines suggest annual pap smears may not be necessary to prevent cancer.

It's the second time this week that changes have been proposed to major procedural cancer screenings. The first was a change in the age women should get their first mammogram.

Pap smears are used to spot pre-cancerous changes in the cervix in time to prevent invasive cancer. The newly released guidelines indicate less is more. 

The guidelines recommend that women not begin pap tests before age 21. Previously, it was age 18.

Additionally women between 20 and 30 would get a pap test every other year, instead of annually.

Finally, it's suggested that women age 30 and older, who have had three normal pap tests in a row, only need a pap test every three years.

Knoxville OB/GYN Heather Moss says these new guidelines shouldn't  scare women. "This is really not that big of a deal. It's a minor change."

Dr. Moss adds that unlike some aggressive breast cancers, cervical cancer is slow growing.

"From the time that you acquire HPV to the time that you could actually develop cervical cancer can be 10 to 20 years," Dr. Moss explains.

"So this is something that if we go from once yearly screening to once every two years screening, it's something that's going to be picked up," she adds.

HPV or the Human Papillomavirus is an infection that can cause cancer, but experts say most people with HPV don't develop symptoms or health problems.

For teens or patients in their 20s, the virus will often go away on its own. "Most of the time when you're that age, you're able to clear that virus from your body. Your immune system is able to fight that off," Dr. Moss says.

Plus, doctors say treatments for HPV can be harmful to the cervix or cause pre-mature birth in some women.

Most importantly, Dr. Moss says don't be confused because women still need a yearly pelvic exam.

"It is still recommended that you come in yearly for an evaluation of uterus, tubes and ovaries. The only way that can be done is with a pelvic exam. Just because we're not doing the pap smear does not mean that we do not need evaluate those organs."

Women who have a history of abnormal pap smears or have a compromised immune system will still need pap tests each year.

Unlike the recommendations made by an independent medical panel earlier this week in regard to mammograms, these new pap test guidelines are from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is made up of medical doctors specializing in the field.