New guidelines released for cervical cancer screening
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and groups such as the American Cancer Society released new guidelines stating healthy women should be screened for cervical cancer less often.
Posted — UpdatedPreviously, women were encouraged to have a Pap test every year.
"It is as effective in reducing cancer deaths as annual screening, but we have substantially (fewer) false positive tests," said Dr. Wanda Nicholson of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Low-risk women over the age of 30 can be tested every five years if they get an human papillomavirus (HPV) test at the same time as their Pap test.
Doctors say that over-screening can lead to unnecessary procedures and increase pregnancy complications. However, many gynecologists think that waiting to test for HPV until age 30 is too risky.
"To blanketly say in these low-risk patients five years is appropriate might be a stretch too far," said Dr. Sharyn Lewin of New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
The new recommendations for less frequent screening do not mean that women should skip their annual checkups, according to physicians.
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