no need to shy to dr lor. this screening test is realy crucial..

so, clue cell is not for cancer lor? it just indicates infection..??

Maybe all this screening test should be thought right from school! Girls should be aware of the dangers and how screening test like pap smear can help!

yeah agree.. coz, when become adult, they can be prepared for this..

yup. and clue cells are usually seen on a vaginal wet mount and not a pap smear. A wet mount is usually taken from a sample of the fluid from the vagina and put on a glass slide. A pap smear is taken via a scraping from the cervix and then rubbed onto a glass slide and fixed with alcohol.

yeah, now i know..

is that u mention about vaginal wet mount is the same as high vaginal swab?

No. A high vaginal swab is usually for culture of the organism. A cotton tip applicator similar to a cotton bud is used to take a sample from the posterior fornix. It is then placed into a tube with transport medium and sent to the lab. The lab will culture the applicator to see what organisms grow and determine the type of infection

A wet mount can be a clinic procedure and does not need to be sent to the lab. Just take a bit of fluid and smear it on a slide with normal saline and view it under a microscope. U may see flagellated organisms to suggest a vaginal trichomoniasis or u may see clue cells to suggest bacterial vaginosis.

oic, so vaginal wet mount is thay take the fluid sample from the vagina. n

now i know, but this is very new to me.

i just heard this..

glad you know. Hope everyone learns as well. But remember the word of advise at the top of the section page. This is no substitute for formal medical advise. Always remember while things are generally the same, your condition may vary from others in ways that can only be considered by a clinician in direct contact with you. So there is no substitute for that. And besides, no qualified doctor would give you medical advice over the internet as it is not accurate to do so. Only general advice regarding the condition as health education is permissable. No diagnosis or prescriptions should be considered here.

yeah, totally understand. we re here to discuss not to diagnosed..

yeah.....just hope everyone else understands that too. Gets me worried sometimes to see ppl blindly following advice in these threads without checking it out first, especially regarding dubious remedies which actually might make the condition worse.

haha.. they should read the instruction on the above page here first..

This threads meant for girls, but floaded with men. walao...

By the way, I see the "male" box below your nick!

I believe you've misinterprated the title.. it actually means pap smear test for girls because pap smear test cant be done for guys! So of course everyone should feel free to voice their opinion!

It would be better if PAP smear test is done together with digene HPV DNA test.

PAP smear have good specificity while its sensitivity is poor. The pathologist needs to look at the slides and there might be chance for them to miss certain cells. Another possibility is that the sample collection method might be wrong.

It has been proven that cervical cancer is caused by Human Papilloma virus (HPV). However, not all the HPV will cause cervical cancer. This has been well-studied and HPV DNA test is so far the only FDA-approval test in the market to use together with PAP for efficient screening of cervical samples.

well to provide more explaination, the HPV DNA is not a standalone test. It has to be used together with the Pap Smear. This is simply because many ppl have HPV infection including the guys and all will test positive with the DNA test. However, not all will develop cervical CA.

On the other hand, if you have an inconclusive smear result. You could do one of three things. Repeat the smear in 3 months, do an HPV DNA, or go for a colposcopy.

The HPV DNA just provides more evidence that there may be an underlying carcinoma and patients with inconclusive pap smear with HPV DNA positive should undergo a colposcopy.

Actually, not all cervical cancer is caused by HPV. A majority, but there's other causes. The next statement is absolutely right, not all HPV causes cervical cancer!

about 70% is caused by HPV 16 and 18 . Another 25% is caused by other HPV strains. about another 5% is caused by non HPV related causes.

Another risk factor for cervical CA is smoking. So please do stop.

Well explained, you see the other 5% is non-HPV related. Of course, there's factors such as genetics, other STDs, etc. So, this is life!

well, currently the standard practice is to get newly delivered mothers to have their PAP smears done 6 weeks post delivery..
it sounds kinda simple & easy, since at 2 months, they have to bring their kid to get their immunization jab..
however, there are still pregnant mothers who are in their 3rd / 4th pregnancy who haven't had a PAP smear done yet..

it's kinda sad to see patients with stage 3 or 4 cervical cancer..
I will always remember the words of my mentor: A woman should not die of cervical cancer..

it's so true, coz cervical CA takes years & years to progress, & we have such an efficient & cost-effective screening modality..

so LYNers, do pass on the word.. k?

Your sincere concern is very much appreciated!

Regarding the standard practice to have PAP smear 6 wks post delivery, is it practiced in Malaysia? Havent heard of it, but thx for d info!