Dr. Jill Hechtman
is an Ob/Gyn at Tampa
Obstetrics. She received her MD from Ross University School
of Medicine and completed her residency at Wayne State University
in Detroit, Michigan.
 Although
cervical cancer is nearly 100 percent curable if detected
early, it remains a devastating disease that claims the lives
of thousands of women a year. Routine Pap testing is a woman’s
best defense against the disease as it helps ensure that any
abnormalities are detected in the early stages when they are
most curable. The majority of women who get cervical cancer
either have never had a Pap test or had not been tested within
five years of the diagnosis.
Current recommendations call for young women to begin Pap
test screening at age 21 or within three years of the onset
of sexual activity. However, recent data show that only 20
percent of young women report having had a Pap in the past
five years even though 43 percent of high school females report
having had sexual intercourse.
Many advances have been made to control cervical cancer.
Most recently, the FDA approved a vaccine to guard against
the human papillomavirus (HPV), a virus commonly associated
with cervical cancer. While the vaccine is a big step forward
in women’s health, women need to understand that regular
visits to their doctor and annual Pap testing remains their
best protection against developing the disease. The vaccine
guards against four types of HPV, which are responsible for
approximately 70 percent of all cervical cancers, and the
duration of the vaccine’s effectiveness is unknown.
Since cervical cancer can only be detected with a Pap test,
early detection and diagnostic accuracy remain paramount in
reducing the number of women who are affected by this disease.
It is also important that women receive the best methods in
cervical cancer screening available to them, so it’s
important that we all do our research. One widely used test,
the ThinPrep Pap test, which is labeled by the FDA as “significantly
more effective” than the conventional Pap test, is a
liquid-based test in which a collection device is submerged
in a liquid preservative after the sample has been collected,
ensuring that all cervical cells are captured. The sample
can then be used to check for HPV.
All women must continue to visit their physician for their
annual exam, receive regular Pap tests and educate themselves
to ensure they are doing what they can to protect their cervical
health.
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