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On the heels of this week's mammogram controversy comes new guidelines for cervical cancer screening from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. In a nutshell, here's what it says: Women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended in the past.
Is anyone else concerned that all these new recommendations are suggesting LESS—not more—cancer screening for women?
Here's the gist of the new guidelines for cervical cancer screening:
- Women should delay their first Pap test until age 21, and be screened less often than recommended in the past.
- Women 30 and older who have three consecutive Pap tests that were normal, and who have no history of seriously abnormal findings, can stretch the interval between screenings to three years.
- Women who have a total hysterectomy, and who had no severe abnormalities on previous Pap tests, can quit having the tests entirely.
- The guidelines also say that women can stop having Pap tests between 65 and 70 if they have three or more negative tests in a row and no abnormal test results in the last 10 years.
The changes do not apply to women with certain health problems that could make them more prone to aggressive cervical cancer.
A chairwoman from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists insists that the timing of the new guidelines—so close to the new mammogram guidelines—is purely coincidental. (Interesting to note, the group opposes the new mammogram advice.)
The reason for the changes? There is potential for harm from the overuse of Pap tests. Specifically, procedures to remove abnormalities in the cervix (which could go away if left alone) can actually injure the cervix and lead to problems later when a woman becomes pregnant, including premature birth and an increased risk of needing a C-section. As such, groups including the American Cancer Society have actually suggested similar changes to the recommendations for years.
What do you think of these new guidelines? Do you plan on asking your doctor about them?
New Mammogram Advice Upsets Women Everywhere
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Comments (13)
I hate all these new guidelines-They suck!
I think these are dumb, and it is gendercide! I had numerous clean pap smears before I had the pap smear that showed I had highly severe dysplia. I had to have a LEEP procedure to have it removed. I ended up have 2 LEEP procedures. The only complication I had after that when I got pregnant was that my cervix wouldn't dialate when I was in labor. They had to give me an epi and manually stretch my cervix until they stretched out the scar tissue, then it would dialate on it own again. I will continue to have my yearly pap smears, and completely ignore these new guidelines.
I wonder if these are in attempt to keep health care costs down.
I like them. They're right. I had an abnormal pap, they did a culture (which hurt like hell), then they recommended removing a part of my cervix. I declined because they said it could leave me with a problem where my cervix would need to be sewn up to remain pregnant if I ever got pregnant after the procedure. Years later, I finally go back, and I was fine. This has happened to many women I know and have met on CM. Some of the few that I know who trusted their doctor now have incompetent cervixes.
i agree with mommyheymommy
i wonder myself if because we may have that nationalized healthcare in the future they are trying to keep their costs down... but it seems lessening the preventative steps and care could make more costs in the long run...????
There is virtually no chance that any insurers, either public or private, will deny coverage to anyone based on these recommendations. Government and industry officials have said that explicitly and, in fact, every state but Utah requires private insurers to pay for mammograms for women starting in their 40s.
There is nothing in the reform bills that would change the current Medicare laws, which require that annual mammograms be included among the preventive services covered, an important benefit for more than a million women in their 40s who get Medicare coverage because they are disabled or suffering from end-stage kidney disease.
•
The only part of the reform bills that could affect mammography would only make them more accessible. Under the legislation, the secretary of health and human services might be given authority to waive Medicare co-payments for prevention services that rank highly in the opinion of this task force. Since the task force gave a low grade to screening women in their 40s, the secretary could not waive cost-sharing for them.
-NY times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/opinion/20fri1.html
This makes me very nervous....this means that if I have cervical cancer...it just gets to grow for 3 years.....seriously? I mean a woman could be dead or the cancer too far advanced for treatment by the time it's discovered! Are they trying to kill us women off?
Pishyah- same thing happened to my best friend - but she HAD 30% of her cervix removed. She regrets it now that shes considering having kids, and there have been no further abnormalities found, and no cancer found after all, 7 years later.
I think people need to get a grip and realise these are GUIDELINES set forth by MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS which are meant to be taken into consideration, they will not be "the law". You are still free to do whatever it is you already do in regards to your health. If you have a higher risk of cancer, of course go in for more screenings. But the average everyday woman doesnt need a yearly pap. Thats been common knowledge for years.
Arriving on the heels of hotly disputed guidelines calling for less use of mammography, the new recommendations might seem like part of a larger plan to slash cancer screening for women. But the timing was coincidental, said Dr. Cheryl B. Iglesia, the chairwoman of a panel in the obstetricians’ group that developed the Pap smear guidelines. The group updates its advice regularly based on new medical information, and Dr. Iglesia said the latest recommendations had been in the works for several years, “long before the Obama health plan came into existence.”
She called the timing crazy, uncanny and “an unfortunate perfect storm,” adding, “There’s no political agenda with regard to these recommendations.”