Word: papping
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Error rates vary from one procedure or laboratory to another, but Pap tests and screenings for cholesterol are among those that are most often incorrect. The Federal Government monitors only labs that serve Medicare patients or do interstate business. State laws have been described by one investigator as a hopeless patchwork. Some laboratories submit to proficiency reviews in order to be certified by private professional groups, but thousands of other privately run labs are unregulated...
Tragedies have certainly occurred. Among the most notorious have been cases of women who, despite negative Pap smears, turned out to have cervical cancer. ( Some have died; others have been forced to have hysterectomies. Had the disease been caught early, minor surgery could have sufficed. Pap smears miss between 20% and 40% of cancerous and precancerous specimens. Most often, the blame is laid on harried technicians who, paid according to the number of samples they process, may scan more than 100 slides a day with few breaks in so-called Pap-mill laboratories...
...incidence of cervical cancer has not matched the rise in HPV cases. But that is little comfort: there may be a latent period of five to 40 years before virus-associated cancers appear. Clinics are already seeing an increase of young women with Pap tests that show HPV-linked cervical dysplasia. These tissue abnormalities sometimes mean the cells are becoming malignant. Some researchers think HPV is involved in as many as 90% to 95% of all cases of dysplasia and cancer of the cervix...
Since there are no symptoms until cervical cancer is advanced, Pap smears are the only way to detect the malignancy early. Some gynecologists recommend the test every six months for women with more than one sexual partner, and more frequently for those who have had warts. Even when the warts disappear spontaneously or are medically removed, the underlying viral infection -- and therefore the risk of cancer -- may persist. Hoping to reduce that risk, doctors are testing the antiviral substance interferon in adults with severe warts, and efforts to produce a vaccine are also under way. But no solution is close...
...Reagan regime has been characterized by a willful failure to face fiscal realities. The resulting budget and trade deficits constrict the ideas and visions that candidates might see fit to offer. Though the nation knows in its gut that it is time to move beyond the feel-good pap that Reagan offered, it is not ready to bestow popularity on those who call for realistic prescriptions. Last week Bruce Babbitt discovered that sad truth. So did Robert Dole, whose sin was taking the sensible position that he would not rule out all tax increases...