All About Pap Smears Video Transcript

Webcast Transcript

CHERYL WILLS:  Cervical cancer was once the number one killer of American women, but now it's considered preventable by a simple test called a pap smear.  Sadly, the disease still kills close to 5,000 women every year, because many do not know about the test.

Joining me today to take a closer look at pap smears, are our guests, two gynecologists.  To my left is Dr. Flavia Golden.  She's Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cornell University Medical College.  She's also Assistant Attending at New York Hospital, and an internist who works at the Center for Women's Health Care at New York Hospital.  Thank you for joining us, Dr. Golden.

To her left is Dr. Shawn Biggers.  She's Assistant Professor in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Weil Medical College of Cornell University.  She's also Director of Obstetrics at Cornell Medical Associates on the West Side.  Thank you, Dr. Biggers, for joining us today.

Let's start with the basics.  Dr. Golden, what is a pap smear?

FLAVIA GOLDEN, MD:  A pap smear is a test that can be done by a physician, usually a gynecologist or an internist.  Just to let you know, I'm an internist, not a gynecologist.  It's an in-office procedure that can be done very quickly, to help in the detection of cervical cancer.

CHERYL WILLS:  Dr. Biggers, how does it work?

SHAWN BIGGERS, MD:  We actually do the pap smear when you come for an annual visit.  It is done by placing a speculum in the vagina, locating the cervix, and then scraping a small layer of cells off the cervix and also the inner part of the cervix.  We then place those cells on a slide, which is then sent off to the lab, and is read by doctors or technicians at the lab.

CHERYL WILLS:  Dr. Golden, some women have a misconception that a pap smear is painful.  For some reason people think "needle" or "injection."  That's not at all the case, is it?

FLAVIA GOLDEN, MD:  That's absolutely not the case.  I would say that the pap smear, generally, in addition to being a very, very quick test, taking perhaps no more than a couple of minutes, is at worst a little bit uncomfortable.  Very occasionally, for women who perhaps are very, very uncomfortable, perhaps more apprehensive to begin with, there might be a little bit more discomfort.  But, generally speaking, it's not painful at all.

CHERYL WILLS:  Dr. Biggers, how important is this test?  You must always remind your patients to make sure they get this test.  How important is it?

SHAWN BIGGERS, MD:  It's tremendously important.  When this test was first established in the 1950s, and it was actually quite an innovative discovery, where we could just scrape some cells off of the surface of tissue and actually use that as a screening test for cancer, that was actually a pretty innovative technique.  Actually developed at Cornell Medical College.

But this is a very simple technique that has reduced the number of cervical cancer cases by 70% between 1950 and 1970.  So it significantly changed the scope of this kind of cancer, as being in effect on women of reproductive age.

I do tell my patients that annual screening is necessary.  If we look at the general consensus on when women should be screened, it should be annually, usually starting at the age of 18, or when a patient becomes first sexually active.  It should continue on an annual basis.  Now, the American College of Ob/GYN, in a consensus report, says that after three normal pap smears, the doctor can use their discretion as to how often a pap smear should be performed.