Word: cancer
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Citing a drop in cervical cancer rates, the ACOG is now loosening its guidelines. The group also took into account recent studies on the risks of screening. Risks include the removal of abnormal lesions found during Pap smears, which are common in young women and teens, but often go away on their own if left untreated. The procedures used to remove the lesions may be linked to long-term reproductive harms, such as premature birth, underweight babies and an increased risk of cesarean section birth. Weighing the risks, the ACOG determined that the evidence supported later, and less frequent screening...
Since the 1970s, when Pap testing became a part of routine gynecological exams, the rate of cervical cancer in the U.S. has fallen more than 50% - in 1975 there were 14.8 cases per 100,000 women, and by 2006, only 6.5 per 100,000 women. But the cancer, which is primarily caused by infection with the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV), is rare among teens under 20. Only about 14 cases are reported each year in the U.S. in teenagers, compared with 123 cases among women ages 20 to 24, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...
...guidelines advise women between the ages of 21 and 30 to be screened once every two years for cervical cancer. In women over 30, the guidelines allow for three years between screenings, if patients have three consecutive normal Pap smears and no prior history of abnormalities. Between 65 and 70, women may stop have Pap smears altogether, if they have had three normal tests in a row and negative results over the last 10 years. However, women with HIV, previously abnormal Pap tests, or other problems that would suppress the immune system or increase the risk of aggressive cervical cancer...
...Cervical cancer is slow growing - giving doctors time to find it - and studies show that among women in their 20s, the risk of developing cervical cancer does not increase by reducing the frequency of Pap tests to every two years. Although the HPV infection rate is high among sexually active teens and young adults, the virus is typically cleared by the woman's immune system within a year or two of infection. Few cases of HPV infection lead to cancer; when they do, the cancer may develop up to 10 to 20 years after exposure to the virus...
...change in Pap testing does not represent as monumental a shift as the USPSTF's new advice on mammography, since Pap testing of adolescents, while recommended, has not become as entrenched as mammography as a preventive tool. Still, both new sets of cancer screening guidelines exemplify an effort by leading medical organizations to base their advice on scientific data, rather than an assumption that more screening always leads to better prevention. "Physicians have a hard time letting go of screening tests that make them feel comfortable," says Dr. Karen Soren, director of adolescent medicine at New York Presbyterian Morgan Stanley...