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FRIDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDayNews) -- Adolescent and college-age women with abnormal findings on their Pap smear shouldn't hit the panic button, a new report suggests.
In the vast majority of cases, these abnormalities simply clear up on their own, the study found.
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The research may also help resolve the issue of whether colposcopy -- a more invasive, expensive follow-up test -- is always warranted in this younger age group.
"The take-home message is that the majority of women with [Pap test] abnormalities who are at or under college age don't need to rush out and get colposcopy," said Dr. Thomas C. Wright, a professor of pathology at Columbia University in New York City, and lead author of cervical cancer screening guidelines issued by the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology.
The advent of the annual Pap smear dramatically reduced the incidence of cervical cancer in American women. Current American Cancer Society guidelines recommend that adolescents and college-age women see their gynecologist for a once-a-year Pap test within three years of first sexual intercourse, or by age 21, whichever comes first.
According to Wright, a small number of women -- about 1.6 percent -- will receive a Pap test result that includes a finding of "low-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions" (LSIL). These microscopic lesions are usually linked to the presence of a very common, potentially cancer-causing pathogen known as the human papilloma virus (HPV). About 70 percent of women will become infected with HPV at some point during their lifetime, the American Cancer Society reports.
While most of these low-grade lesions appear to be harmless, in rare cases they can progress to high-grade lesions. Doctors usually treat high-grade lesions to prevent them from turning into cancers.
In older patients with Pap smears that indicate LSIL, gynecologists often choose to examine the affected cervical tissue with an instrument called a colposcope.
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