Gyn Exams - Menopause Message Board

taape · 03-17-2009, 04:22 PM

I went in for my annual today and the doctor said that I didn't need a pap smear as it's now only recommended every 3 years. I was sort of surprised. She also said that the pap smears are only for checking to see if a patient has the human papaliova virus or not and if you test negative you don't need another pap smear for 3 years.

I'm not sure if this is just for patients in menopause or not which I am. When I asked about checking for cervical cancer she said that the manual exam was how this was done.

Have things changed over the past few years about the need for continued pap smears and especially during menopause?

paticake35 · 04-06-2009, 08:58 AM

I was just in for my pap and I asked the doctor about this. She said that the American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology recommends paps every year because there is a 20% chance of false negatives, and that would put you a year behind in treatment if it wasn't discovered. Also, they still do paps on women who have had their cervixes removed. They test the vaginal walls apparently. HPV causes the majority of cervical cancer, but it can also happen without, so it's probably a good idea to just do it anyway.

liverpool sue · 04-06-2009, 10:03 AM

here in england we're invited for our 1st pap test when we're 25.
between 25 and 49 we're called back every 3 years.
50 to 64 it goes to 5 yearly, then over 65 only if you haven't been screened since you were 50 or if you've had a recent abnormal test.
as far as i'm aware, being in menopause doesn't increase your risk of cancer so there seems little point increasing sceening.

sue