The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued new guidelines that were published in JAMA regarding cervical cancer screening, suggesting that women can get a test that looks for the human papilloma virus.
The task force recommends that screening should begin for women age 21-29 with a Pap test every three years, which they may continue from age 30 to 65, or they can get screened every five years with a test that looks for the high-risk types of HPV that cause cervical cancer or get both tests every five years.
The USPSTF guidelines say that women over 30 can safely wait five years between cervical cancer screenings thus reducing false alarms that lead to invasive follow-up tests and unnecessary treatment.
The new guidelines “are based on a now-solid body of evidence showing that almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papilloma virus.
