Hm..
Never heard of this before..
Is it certified by the MOH?

Anyway, Pap smear is still the gold standard for screening cervical cancers;
especially at the early phase.
Remember, cervical cancer takes 10 years to progress from abnormal cells,
so, Pap smear is super important!!
It saves lifes from cervical cancer..
better endure the pain from screening rather than endure the pain of cervical cancer

It is recommended for all sexually active ladies, done yearly for 3x until u get normal result.
If abnormal cells are found, normally it'll be removed, via surgery/medication, and you are "cured" , no worries!

But if you leave it there, it'll grow and grow.. and turn malignant and may possibly spread to the liver, lungs, and bones..

well, from what i heard is, there is another ongoing trail for the vaccine.. it'll protect up to 10 strainz!
So.. the $ of the 2strain vaccine is going to drop for sure
if your aim is to protect against cervical cancer, the bivalent (2subtype) vaccine is sufficient.. if im not mistaken, max age is 40 years
if you are scared of warts and all... then, u might opt for the 4 subtype vaccine <- this, max age is 28 years.

Yes,

3 yearly = once yearly for 3 times, so when i said 3 times ( the doc will tell u that u'll have to do 3 times in 3 years ) it's means the same thing lah .

Why do we have to do 3 times, because there is a chance of missing the lesion; probably due to technique problem, staining problem.. etc.. and y women still get cervical cancer even though people doing pap smear is increasing? It's because they do not follow this regime. So, please don't misguide people by saying "you dun need to do 3 times until you get normal result."

The point im telling about the 10 subtype vaccine is because the $ of the bivalent vaccine will drop.
Nothing to do with sexually active or not.

haha.. yes i heard about vaccinating guys. it's because now, they found out that nasopharyngeal cancer and esophageal cancer is now found in young girls.. why? because of oral *** and they get the HPV !! HPV found in the histology of the ca!!


This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 14 2008, 07:20 PM

remember, pap smear prevents cervical cancer..
vaccine also prevents it!


This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 15 2008, 01:20 AM

I wish to make this really really clear

cervical cancer -
- KILLs ( this is not a joke)
- up to 80% is caused by HPV ( not HVP) : Human papillomavirus subtype 16,18
- IT is preventable

How to prevent it?
- do pap smear ( recommended yearly for 3 years - to reduce the chances of getting a false negative )
- vaccination against HPV

How does pap smear help?
- It picks up early changes in the cervix
*** very early stages of cervical cancer has no symptoms ****
remember, it takes [I]10 years to progress from abnormal cells to cancer, thats why pap smear is really good[/I]
if there are early changes, we shall stop it, halt the process before it goes on to cancerous stage.

Another thing,
latest news - A new study has found for the first time Gardasil can be used to immunise men as well, showing it stopped HPV-related genital warts in 90 per cent of cases.

---

Added on November 20, 2008, 12:11 amsorry to say,
nothing is 100% in this world.
you can still get HIV , Hep B or C, and HPV even with the condom on

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 20 2008, 12:11 AM

The most common causes of getting STD with the condom on is because of
breakage,
slippage,
failure to use them throughout intercourse.

This is why it is important to
- check your condom before wearing it - see if the packet is torn / check for visible breaks
- wear it correctly
- use it throughout the intercourse

this is a little off topic, should b under uterine cancer and pap smear.
But, oh well ...

1. I know pap smear should given to girl who already have sex before. But virgin are allowed to do pap smear or not ? (by the law/term & condition from government health department or hospital)

Virgins are not recommended to have pap smear.
It'll be very traumatizing and hurtful!

2. My best friend who suspected have uterus cancer already done pap smear after adviced by doctor but she is a virgin. So can this incident happen ? (by the law/term & condition from government health department or hospital)

Uterine cancer and cervical cancer are two very different things.
Pap smear screens for cervical cancer not uterine cancer.
You can not diagnose uterine cancer from pap smear!! ( oh well, unless the uterine cancer is huge and sloughs off the cells to the cervical canal!)
Risk factor for uterine cancer is obesity, single , never give birth before, late menopause etc...

3. If pap smear should given to girl who already have sex before, then how a virgin can test for uterus cancer ?

Good question.
Actually, there are no screening test for uterine cancer..
The doctor will check for it only when he is suspicious of you developing it.
But, most uterine cancer patients come very late.
Normally they consult the traditional med pplz.. which is kinda sad..

Hope this helps yungseng

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 23 2008, 11:36 PM

However, in http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/u/uterine_cancer/intro.htm show that uterine cancer can be test by pap smear. So any comments ? (Sorry not to offend you but I just want to clear my confuse only)


What you saw was this izit?
"Diagnostic Tests for Uterine Cancer
# Physical exam
# Pelvic exam
# Pap smear "


Personally, I'm surprised to see that stated there!
Why?

1. It has been studied that pap smear's "diagnostic sensitivity is
highest (BEST) for (detecting cervical cancer) invasive endocervical adenocarcinoma and
lowest (not reliable) for diagnosis of (uterine cancer) endometrial adenocarcinoma."
- taken from a research paper published in 2000 Diagnostic Cytopathology.

So this means that, it is not the screening tool of choice because chances to miss uterine cancer is HIGH.
Since it chances to miss it is HIGH, doctors do not use it on uterine cancer at all -

2. Uterine cancer (endometrial cancer) means that the endometrium (cells) is the lining of the uterus is cancerous.
This sits far above the cervix.
Logically,
a Pap smear doesn't test it
It was designed to look for the cervical cells.
Unless like i said in the previous post, it is a large huge cancer bulk that is shedding its cells into the cervical canal! Then at this time the cancer which would be very very advanced, and it would be very obvious to the doctor that you are having uterine cancer.
This time around, the doctor would have used the ultrasound ( which is less invasive) to look into your abdomen instead of sticking a wooden spatula into your private parts.

The doctor will check for it only when he is suspicious of you developing it.

How to check ? By what exam / test ?

1. Ultrasound of the uterus and the surrounding area

Another questions :
1. Will virgin get uterine cancer ?
Research have shown that people who are obese, smokes, single, never got pregnant before has a higher chance.

2. Will virgin get cervical cancer ?
The risk is lower because they are not exposed to HPV which causes 80-90% of cervical cancers.

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 24 2008, 05:56 PM

yes.. i meant virgin. :")

Hmm..
another thing to add..
endometrial cancer mostly occurs in the postmenopausal age..

I know it's a little but.. oh well..

we respond looking at the level of education of the given situation.
If a nurse coming as a patient and starts using jargon, you'll sure to follow suit.
Here, if some of us starts using jargon, you can ask to what he/she means.
Well, this is a forum, aka 2 way thing. Nobody'll make fun of you! and we would be happy to help.
And, i'm sure at this Google Age, you can type in "define hysterectomy" " hysterectomy" and pop, your answer is there.

Hence, fireball,
All of us are human beings trying to be the better man. We are constantly learning. We make mistakes. We rectify them. We change.
Anyway, just my 2 cents, please do suggest things a nicer way.. others might be offended easily.
We are trying our best to help, and hope you do the same too.

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 26 2008, 01:10 PM

Fireball,
The nurse story was an illustration.
But,
sure, no problem.
i'm not taking it to heart.
We must be crystal clear in our aim - to help. not to impress and not to degrade
And yes, we sometimes get too carried away, excited maybe..
but, we'll be putting brackets beside the jargon we are using; like what klifex said, no harm in learning new words.

Anyway..
I think we should get back to the original topic of pap smear.

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 27 2008, 11:26 PM

peace

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Added on November 28, 2008, 2:26 amoh yah...
forgot to add,
when doing pap smear, preferable time is to do it at the end of your period ( like day 4 / 5 if yours is a 5 day cycle)

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 28 2008, 02:26 AM

from what i understand,
at the end of menstruation, your external os ( opening of the cervix) will be more exposed, easier to get samples from there - hence lower chance of specimen collection failure

hmm... good point..
that's why you have to be "dry" when you go to do pap smear.
I got to rectify my statement then
It'll be, say you have a 5 day cycle ( meaning it finishes at 5th day),
ideal timing would be on the 6th day up to 1 week after.

Similarly, for uterine device ( thing you put in your uterus to prevent pregnancy), great timing would be at end of your menstruation.
Why? to make sure she is not pregnant, and because the opening is softer - less pain and injury

Q & A on Pap Smear

This post has been edited by sandboxz: Nov 28 2008, 05:13 PM

If you are not comfortable discussing this with a male doctor,
it is always possible for you to request for a female doctor.