Gyno Reports

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The Importance of Pap Smears.


Regular preventive care is one of the most important ways to maintain your health over time. If you wait to see a doctor only when you notice a problem, it may be too late.

Cervical cancer screening is especially important for women’s health — but how and when it should be done has been the subject of debate.

Guidelines from the American Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommend:

  • Cervical cancer screening should start at age 21 years.
  • Women aged 21–29 years should have a Pap test every 3 years.
  • Women aged 30–65 years should have a Pap test and an HPV test (co-testing) every 5 years (preferred). It is acceptable to have a Pap test alone every 3 years.

More research is needed to determine how the HPV test should be incorporated into our screening program, but experts say it’s not likely to replace the Pap anytime soon. For now, both ACOG and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force say Pap smears are a woman’s best bet for early detection of cervical cancer.

“Pap smears can detect early precancerous changes on the cervix,” explains Johnathan Lancaster, MD, PhD, chair of the department of women’s oncology and director of the center for women’s oncology at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, in Tampa, Fl. “These changes can be easily treated, thus dramatically reducing the risk of progression to cervical cancer.”

What Problems Can a Pap smear Detect?

“Pap smears are not designed to detect cervical cancer,” says Dr. Lancaster. “They are designed to detect cervical dysplasia, or precancerous changes [in the cervix].” When Pap smear detects abnormal cells, your doctor can take steps to figure out the culprit behind these changes and treat the condition before it turns into cancer.

How Often Should I Have a Pap smear?

“Like all medical tests, Pap smears are not 100 percent accurate,” he says. “This reinforces the importance of having regular Paps, so that even if one Pap misses an early abnormal change, it’s likely to be picked up at the next Pap.”

What if I Have an Abnormal Pap smear?

An abnormal Pap smear means abnormal cells have been identified on your cervix. Depending on the type of cells found, your doctor might recommend repeating the test in four to six months, Lancaster says. Other times, they may choose to perform a colposcopy in order to get a better look at the cervix and take tissue samples to biopsy so they can determine what types of cells are present.

During a colposcopy, a thin tube with a very small camera attached to it is gently inserted into the vagina, up to your cervix. During a biopsy, your doctor removes a small piece of tissue from your cervix to analyze it under a microscope. The results of these tests can determine the nature of the problem and guide treatment.

When Should Start and Stop Getting A Pap

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends women begin getting Pap smears within three years of the first time they have sexual intercourse, or by age 21, whichever comes first, says Lancaster.

“Some women may discontinue Pap smears after age 65, but this needs to be a highly individualized decision based on risk factors and decided in conjunction with their gynecologist,” Lancaster says.

How Should I prepare for a Pap smear?

Lancaster says the presence of any substance in the vagina can lower the accuracy of a Pap smear. He recommends women avoid douching or engaging in sexual intercourse for two to three days prior to having a Pap smear to get more accurate results. Lancaster also says it’s preferable that women not be menstruating when having a Pap smear, since this too can interfere with the accuracy of the test.

What Happens During a Pap smear?

Many people confuse pelvic exams with Pap Smears. The pelvic exam is part of a woman’s routine health care. During a pelvic exam, the doctor looks at and feels the reproductive organs, including the uterus and the ovaries and may do tests for sexually transmitted disease. Pap tests are often done during pelvic exams, but you can have a pelvic exam without having a Pap test. A pelvic exam without a Pap test will not help find abnormal cells of the cervix or cervical cancer at an early stage.

The Pap test is often done during a pelvic exam, after the speculum is placed. To do a Pap test, the doctor removes cells from the cervix by gently scraping or brushing it with a special instrument. Pelvic exams may help find other types of cancers and reproductive problems, but a Pap test is needed to find early cervical cancer r pre-cancers. Ask your doctor if you had a Pap test with your pelvic exam.

Pap smears are generally painless and usually done during a pelvic exam. The doctor will position you on the exam table and insert a device called a speculum into your vagina; the speculum opens the vaginal area wider, giving the doctor a better view of the cervical area. The doctor will then swab your cervix with a brush or cotton swab to collect cells from its surface, and then send the cells off for analysis to see if there are any abnormal cells present.

Although Pap smears can seem like an uncomfortable nuisance, they are critical to keeping women of all ages healthy. Talk to your doctor to determine how often you should have a Pap smear. 

Tips to Ease Gynecologist Appointment Anxiety

Many women feel nervous or uncertain before/during their gynecology exams. If this sounds like you, try to dull those nerves with the following tips.

Understanding your lady parts 

Understanding you body will make you a more empowered patient in the office of your women’s health specialist. You and your doctor can engage in much smoother (and more comfortable) communication than if everything you’re told sounds like gibberish. Get to know yourself by looking up diagrams of vaginas first (note that everyone looks different), and then examine yourself with a mirror.

Research to find the right women’s health specialist for you

Ask friends and family for recommendations and feedback, and peruse websites such as EZDoctor, which often show information about doctors’ backgrounds as well as patient reviews. 

Write down everything. Questions, concerns, changes in how you feel and look down there – relying on memory isn’t good enough, especially if you tend to get nervous and are thus more likely to forget. Write it all down, and bring the paper to your appointment.

At the appointment, remember to breath. If you’re feeling anxious while sitting in the (relative) comfort of the waiting or exam room, chances are you won’t feel any calmer in stirrups. While waiting, try a relaxation technique, like progressive muscle relaxation. Slowly flex each muscle group for about five seconds and then release and relax them for about 30 seconds. Start at your toes and work up to your neck and head.

Talk openly with your doctor. If this is your first gynecologist exam, speak up! The doctor will likely go through each procedure more slowly and with more explanation. In fact, he or she may decide you don’t even need to have certain exams on the first visit. If you’ve been to the gynecologist a dozen times and simply get nervous and scared anyway, disclose that to the doctor, too.

Leave gynecologists that make you nervous. If your doctor made you uncomfortable during the appointment, by blowing off your concerns, not listening, rushing or seeming judgmental, drop that doctor and look for another. This is your health and comfort, so don’t settle.

 

Source: health.usnews.com

Female Viagra

After an intense lobbying campaign, a federal advisory panel recommended approval of what would become the first drug to treat a lack of sexual desire in women.

The move was immediately hailed by some women’s organizations as a step toward sexual equality by, in effect, giving women their counterpart to Viagra, the widely prescribed drug for male erectile dysfunction.

By a vote of 18-6, the advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration favored approval of the drug, flibanserin, for women whose lack of sexual desire was not attributable to other causes such as disease or relationship troubles, providing that certain steps were taken to limit the risks of the drug. Doctors might be required, for instance, to inform patients of potential side effects — like low blood pressure, fainting, nausea and dizziness — and physicians might have to become certified to prescribe the drug.

The controversial campaign by some women’s groups to win federal approval was waged under the banner Even the Score, which accused the F.D.A. of gender bias because it had approved Viagra and other drugs to help men have sex while leaving women without options.

The participants in the campaign had been brought together by a consultant to Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the developer of flibanserin.

That campaign, which packed the advisory committee meeting room with the drug’s supporters, in addition to some new data from clinical trials, apparently helped tip the balance for flibanserin, which has been rejected twice by the F.D.A. The first time, in 2010, came after a similar advisory committee had voted unanimously against approval.

Now the drug could be approved by Aug. 18, the F.D.A.’s deadline for making a decision.

The agency usually follows the advice of its advisory committees. But Thursday’s vote was closer than the numbers indicate, making it less clear how the F.D.A. will respond. Several committee members said they voted “yes” with great misgivings because of the drug’s modest benefit and possible side effects.

 

Read full story: NYTimes.