Health Panel Endorses New Option for Cervical Cancer Screening

December 10, 2024

A doctor and a woman talking

(New York Times) – Doctors routinely advise that women undergoing screening for cervical cancer receive Pap smears every three years beginning at age 21. Now, beginning at 30, women have a new option.

Instead of undergoing a pelvic exam, these patients may go to a doctor’s office and collect their own vaginal sample to be tested for human papillomavirus, the infection that causes most cases of cervical cancer, according to new guidelines issued on Tuesday by a national health services panel. (Read More)