Pap smears are no one’s idea of a good time, but they are a very necessary in preventing deaths from cervical cancer.
From 1 December, however, there are big changes to Australia’s national cervical screening program and the Pap smear as you know it will be gone. Instead, it’s being replaced with a superior test, which means you go in for one less often.
Before you get too excited, the stirrups haven’t gone anywhere. The samples are still collected in the same way and the doctor’s appointment won’t be any less uncomfortable.
To find out what has changed about the new screening program, we spoke to Dr Daria Fielder, a GP at Sapphire Family Medical Practice in NSW.
Introducing the CST
One of the biggest changes of course, is that women aged 25-79 now need to go in for the test only five years instead of every two. Dr Fielder says this is due to changes in how pathologists test the samples, resulting in a test that is far superior to the original Pap smear test.
“We’ve got a new screening program called Cervical Screening Test or CST, it replaces Pap smear,” she says.
“The reason for the change is two factors. One is because the National Immunisation Program includes a vaccine offered to girls and boys at school, which protects them against the human papillomavirus (HPV). As a result of that, we have had a significant reduction of cervical cancer in Australia.”
“The other reason is that we are offering a superior test. So the actual test we are doing is more accurate than the Pap smear test.”
Top Comments
Well I'm 37, so was well finished with university by the time the in-school immunisation program began. I hardly feel protected. I won't be relying on five year intervals.
If you're over 25 and haven't been vaccinated aginst the most virulent HPV viruses I wouldn't be betting on my life with a 5 year only scan.
I missed my pap by 6 measly months to have it come back positive to abnormal cells due to HPV. I had the normal pap and the advanced thin-prep (which you paid for separately) each time.
Scary but no big prob right? So I went in for a quick daily procedure to burn the abnormal cells. Only BIG problem was that they had already spread and travelled very high up my cervix. In 2 years and 6 months since a normal pap. (Was 6yrs married and no affairs. Cells had been dormant for that long). Two surgeries later, lost the ability to have children but survived. Now I have to have 6 monthly paps for the rest of my life (and coloposcopies because I still come up with abnormal cells every other pap).
I DEF wouldn't be betting on the 5 yearly tests unless you've had the full gamut of HPV tests.