Pap smear is a quick and simple test used to screen women for cervical cancer. Pap smear screening is recommended starting around 21 years of age if you are sexually active and then every 3 years. Routine Pap testing can be stopped in women who have had a total hysterectomy for benign conditions (non cancerous). But if the hysterectomy was done as a treatment for cervical pre-cancer (or cancer) or you had undergone supracervical hysterectomy (hysterectomy without removal of the cervix) then you should continue having your pap smears done.. Women over 65 years of age with previous normal pap smear results in the past can stop cervical cancer screening after consultation with your gynaecologist . However if their previous pap smears had any precancerous lesions (like CIN2 or CIN3) they should continue their regular screening with pap tests.
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The rationale behind stopping pap test screening at 65 years is that there is less than 1 in 1000 possibility that a woman >65 years of age with previous normal pap smear results will develop precancerous lesion or cancer
The rationale behind stopping pap test screening at 65 years is that there is less than 1 in 1000 possibility that a woman >65 years of age with previous normal pap smear results will develop precancerous lesion or cancer