The TV2 program Norge bak fasaden recently broadcast an episode about cervical cancer, where it emerged that several pap smears did not show the correct results. This led to many gynecologists being belittled by worried girls and women. But what does it mean if you are diagnosed with cell changes? What exactly is cervical cancer? And can you trust the results of the pap smear? You can already ask questions to the experts. They answer the questions from 7 to 9 p.m. These are the experts who answer Camilla Jøsok Nybø, senior pathologist at Ålesund hospital Marianne Natvik, general practitioner and Phd fellow at the University of Oslo Tanja Yvonne Alme, cancer coordinator in Sula municipality Elisabeth Jakobsen, Cancer Registry Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. Since you are logged in to other news services, you don’t have to log in again here, but we need your consent to our terms of use for online dialogue Below you will find answers to the ten questions two of the experts say they get most often. Camilla Jøsok NybøSenior physician in pathology at Ålesund hospitalTom Anders StenbroDistrict manager of the Norwegian Cancer Society What is cervical cancer and cell changes? Cancer can affect all organs and all people. Some cancers are feisty and grow quickly. While others lie dormant and grow very slowly. To check whether you have cervical cancer, the doctor wants to check you for cell changes, or the HPV virus that can cause cell changes. This is also referred to as the cervix programme, and is one of our three screening programs to detect cancer early. Cell changes are abnormal cells. Such abnormal cells can in some cases develop into cervical cancer. But for most people, this goes away on its own, without you having noticed it. What is a pap smear? A pap smear is a sample taken from the abdomen. It shows whether you have some form of cell change or whether you have the HPV virus. It is quite simple and quick to take. So far this year, Camilla Jøsok Nybø and her colleagues at the pathology department have received over 1,047 cell samples in total. Approximately 180 more cell samples than the same period last year. Photo: Annabelle Kårvåg Sørensen / news Why do you get cell changes? The HPV virus is a common virus that is transmitted during sexual intercourse, mainly by intercourse. The body manages to get rid of this virus itself. But in some cases it leads to long-term infection, which can cause serious cell changes. If you get serious cell changes, it can be treated by a gynaecologist. Are cell changes cervical cancer? No, it is not. In more than nine out of ten cases, cell changes go away on their own. The reason why you take cell samples is to check/discover that you do not have serious cell changes that could increase the risk of cancer. Why are only those over the age of 25 taking a pap smear? This is because many women under the age of 25 have cell changes or HPV infection which are usually completely harmless. They often go away on their own. Taking pap smears from younger women will usually lead to unnecessary treatment. But if you notice symptoms, you should contact your GP and have it checked, no matter how old you are. Photo: Annabelle Kårvåg Sørensen / news What symptoms should one look for? Symptoms such as foul-smelling discharge, severe pain or heavy bleeding can be signs of cervical cancer. Contact your GP for any further treatment. Do you need to take a pap smear if you have no symptoms? That’s kind of the point of the screening program. We test healthy people to detect disease or precursors to disease, before symptoms develop. So the answer is yes, you should take a pap smear regularly anyway, the experts explain and continue: The screening program helps us catch those who have absolutely no symptoms, and then we have to test quite a few who are healthy. It is encouraged that you get tested during the time period you are notified by the cancer register. This is why the cervical program proves to be able to prevent up to 700 cancer cases throughout the year. Why don’t you test yourself more often? It takes up to ten years for a cell change to develop into cancer. An assessment has been made of how often such a sample should be taken. The cycle here with a cell test every three years is appropriate in order to be able to detect these cell changes early enough so that it can be changed. After 1 July 2023, women aged 25 to 69 must first be tested with an HPV test. This is a more effective test for detecting the pre-stage of cervical cancer, compared to the cervical smear. The HPV test must be taken every five years. Photo: Annabelle Kårvåg Sørensen / news I have had the HPV vaccine, do I need to be tested? It is important to think that one does not exclude the other. No vaccine is 100 percent protective, and new variants of the HPV virus will appear all the time. There are some HPV variants on which the vaccine does not work. It is therefore important to take part in the screening program and get tested when you receive this letter from the cancer register. Is it possible that the test answers will be wrong? Every year, over 90,000 women aged 25–33 take a pap smear. 14 out of 90,000 get a normal Pap test, but still develop cancer within three and a half years. Many have got the impression that there is a margin of error of 50 per cent, but that is not true. We do not know how many samples are misinterpreted. The margin of error for all age groups in the cervical program is 0.01 percent, so there is a very small margin of error in the program, they explain.
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Ask the experts about cervical cancer, cell changes or Pap test – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
