Posted on: January 23, 2015
Women – This Regular Screening Can Save Your Life
by Dr. Navid Mootabar
There’s important news for every woman in a recent report from the Centers for Disease
Control and
Posted on: January 23, 2015
Women – This Regular Screening Can Save Your Life
by Dr. Navid Mootabar
There’s important news for every woman in a recent report from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC): Despite evidence that cervical cancer screening saves lives, about eight million women, ages 21 to 65 years, have not been screened for cervical cancer in the past five years. In addition, more than half of new cervical cancer cases occur among women who have never or rarely been screened. Here, I explain which tests you need, when to get screened, and demystify the protective HPV vaccine. I also offer women a silver lining: You rarely have to worry about advanced cervical cancer if you are regularly screened.
Did you know that cervical cancer was the leading cause of death among women 40 years ago?
The introduction of screening through the Pap smear has caused the disease to drop to the fourth cause of female mortality. But that incidence could be lowered even further if more women had the recommended Pap test. To understand this screening’s exceptional value, you need to know more about the primary cause of cervical cancer: Human Papillomavirus (HPV).
HPV causes approximately 90 percent of all cervical cancer cases.
This sexually transmitted viru