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Millions Of Pap Smears Done Needlessly

The June 2004 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that nearly 11 million women who have had their cervix removed are still getting a Pap smear screening test to see if they have developed cancer of the cervix.

Study author Brenda Sirovich of Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire says it’s possible “that women who have had a total hysterectomy [in which the cervix is removed] are not aware that they are no longer at risk for cervical cancer.” Remarkably she goes on to say the unnecessary testing may be the patients fault since “they may simply be so enthusiastic about cancer screening that they continue to have Pap smears regardless of the usefulness of the test.”

She does admit “it is also possible that physicians are largely responsible for continuing cervical cancer screening after hysterectomy.”

In 1996 a U.S. task force on preventative health recommended that Pap smear screening to test for cancer of the cervix be discontinued in women who have had their cervix removed.

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