Sparing five minutes for a Pap smear could save your life

Dr P Muthaura

Cervical cancer is the number one killer cancer among women yet it is preventable.

A simple test — Pap smear or vaccination — can save your life. By the time a woman has symptoms such as bleeding, the cancer is advanced and may not be treatable so go for regular testing.

The cervix is the opening of the uterus that dilates during childbirth located at the top of the vagina.

A pap smear is a simple test where a doctor or nurse takes a sample of cells from the cervix during a gynaecological examination.

In the lab, the cells are checked for signs they are turning from normal to abnormal.

A normal pap means your cervix is normal and healthy.

A pap may show signs of infection or inflammation. Abnormal cells are signs of pre-cancerous changes that need to be treated.

Your doctor may ask you to have a colposcopy that gives more information about the degree of cell abnormality. If the test shows very abnormal cells ,they need to be treated.

There are several outpatient treatments. The most common is where the cervix is anesthetised and the portion of the cervix with abnormal cells removed with a hot wire loop. The tissue is then sent to the lab.

Outpatient procedure

Cold knife cone is done under general anaesthesia. A knife instead of a hot wire loop is used to remove the abnormal cells and the tissue is sent to the lab.

Cryotherapy is an outpatient procedure where a portion of your cervix with abnormal cells is frozen. Unfortunately there is no sample to send to the lab and one cannot be sure all the abnormal cells were removed.

If invasive cancer is detected, a hysterectomy is recommended.

The type of hysterectomy depends on the degree of invasion. A hysterectomy will not treat advanced cancer and that is why early diagnosis is important.

The Gardasil and Cervarix vaccines are now available. They target the two HPV viruses that are known to cause the majority of cervical cancers. They are recommended for girls aged at least 10 years .

Talk to your doctor about vaccination but you will still need a Pap smear because it protects against the most common but not all types of cervical cancer causing HPV viruses.

Take charge of your health, save your life. Get a pap smear once a year and ask your doctor about the vaccine.

The writer is a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Aga Khan University Hospital

 

 

Read all about: Cervical cancer

 

 

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