(20 Nov 2009) HEADLINE: New advice on women's cancer tests
CAPTION: First mammograms. Now, in an apparent coincidence Pap smears. New guidelines by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists say most women in their 20s can have a Pap smear every two years instead of annually to catch slow-growing cervical cancer. (Nov. 20)
[Notes:ANCHOR VOICE]
NB. THIS IS A VOICEOVER TRANSCRIPT, NOT A FULL SHOT LIST.
NEW GUIDELINES FOR FEMALE HEALTH REPORTED IN THE SAME WEEK HAVE WOMEN TALKING...
Dawn Thomas
Washington, DC
" I think its confusing. Very confusing and I really don't like it."
FIRST, IT WAS ANNOUNCED WOMEN COULD START MAMMOGRAMS AT A LATER AGE, AND NOW THEY ARE BEING TOLD TO GET PAP SMEARS LESS FREQUENTLY
Terry Jackson
Washington,DC
"Stretching it out another year just, further puts undue, you know I guess false, like a false sense of security in someone's mind that I'm ok until that age which is ridiculous."
PAP SMEARS ARE TESTS USED TO CATCH SLOW GROWING CERVICAL CANCER, THAT CURRENT GUIDELINES SAY TO GET SCREENED FOR EVERY YEAR
Dana Gossett, MD
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
"Women who are uncomfortable with that recommendation I still screen them annually. And there are certainly women who feel like three years is to long to wait. "
BUT ACCORDING TO THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OBSTETRICIANS AND GYNECOLOGIST, WOMEN WHO ARE CONSIDERED LOW RISK, CAN GET THE EXAM EVERY OTHER YEAR, AND IN SOME CASES EVERY 3 YEARS, AND STARTING AT THE AGE OF 21 INSTEAD OF 18.
Carlye Burd
Washington, DC
"I do know that with all the HPV scare I think that we need to keep screening young adolescents, I know from my own experience I 've had a lot of friends that had abnormal pap smears and I don't know if that would have waited until they were 21."
ALL THE CHANGES COME AT A TIME WHILE HEALTHCARE REFORM AND IT COSTS ARE BEING HEAVILY DEBATED IN CONGRESS
"For good or for ill. When I'm sitting with a women in my examine room I'm not thinking about the cost to the United States health care system. And maybe we should all be thinking about it more but that's really not in anyway a factor in the conversation that I am going to have with an individual patient of mine about her breast cancer risk, about her cervical cancer risk. What we need to think about is how high risk is she and what's the appropriate screening strategy."
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY REPORTS OVER 11,000 NEW CASES OF CERVICAL CANCER WILL BE DIAGNOSED THIS YEAR, WITH AN ESTIMATED 4,000 DYING FROM THE DISEASE.
LILA IBRAHIM, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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