Doctors' ignore cervical cancer risk by avoiding pap smear test

If you are young and single, chances are that doctors may advise you against taking a pap smear test.

Pap smear is a screening test for cancer of the vagina or cervix. Anecdotal evidence in the city suggests that doctors believe that young unmarried women do not run the risk of contracting the cancer.

Take the case of health-conscious Priya K, all of 25. Priya, an executive working with a PR company, was asked to take a series of tests, including a pap smear, as part of the company’s health policy. When she approached a clinic in south Bangalore, she was told that there was no need for a pap smear test.

“The doctor asked me two blunt questions, and based on the answers, she declared that I didn’t need to undergo a pap test. The two questions were about my age and marital status,” says Priya. “The test was just a precautionary step. However, the consulting doctor was sure I didn’t run the risk of developing cervical cancer. Interestingly, the sum that was payed for the entire package of tests wasn’t reduced.”

Priya’s is not a stray case. Angila John, 23, who works with an MNC, had a similar experience, twice. “Almost eight months ago, I accompanied a friend to a diagnostic centre in Koramangala for a pap smear test. She was refused because she was 26 and single,” says Angila.

Months later, Angila had her own story to recount. Her new employers asked her to undergo a series of tests at a diagnostic centre in south Bangalore. But the doctors were very clear: there was no need for a pap smear test.

In the three cases, there’s no doubt that doctors are understating,or brushing aside, the risk of cervical in young women. This could put such patients’ lives at stake, say oncologists.

Women should go for pap smears test every year. In this test, cells are collected from a woman’s cervix, and studied for specific changes.

“These changes are warning signs that may appear years before cancer develops. When a test is positive, it implies there are changes in the cells of a woman’s cervix. It does not always mean cancer, but it is a serious matter,” says Dr Nanda Rajaneesh, consultant, surgical oncology, HCG.

Oncologists say cervical cancer can affect anyone with or without active sex life. “Although most cervical cancers are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually-transmitted infection, some cancers are not. Also, HPV can also be transmitted in any type of sexual contact,” says Dr Rajaneesh.

“Whether a woman is married or unmarried doesn’t matter. Anyone who is sexually active should go in for this test. In abroad, doctors advice young and unmarried women to take up such tests,” says Dr Bafna Uttamchand, consultant oncologist, Kidwai Hospital.