Doctors: New cervical cancer screening guidelines could cut deaths by 7 percent

Local doctors said new cervical cancer screening guidelines will likely save lives, though they have some concerns about the recommended changes.

Currently, those with a cervix are advised to start getting a Pap test — a cervical cancer screening that involves collecting cells from the cervix — at 21 and to start getting co-tested for human papillomavirus — a sexually transmitted disease linked to cervical cancer — at 30.

In July, the American Cancer Society released new guidelines recommending that people with a cervix not start screening until age 25. At that time, they would get tested for HPV every five years if possible. If that isn’t possible, patients should either receive a Pap smear every three years, or receive a combination of the Pap test and HPV test every five years.

The new guidelines are helpful on a few levels, said Dr. Linus Chuang, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Danbury and Norwalk hospitals. The main advantage is that the ACS predicts the new guidelines — compared with the current recommendations — will prevent 13 percent more cervical cancers and 7 percent more cervical cancer deaths, Chuang said.

Dr. Daniel Gottschall, an obstetrician and gynecologist, and vice president for Hartford Healthcare’s Fairfield region, agreed that the change is potentially lifesaving. Another benefit, he said, is that delaying screening could decrease the number of people who get unnecessary testing or procedures.

“The concern has always been (with the Pap test) that you risk finding things, but not necessarily things that would lead to cancer,” he said.

As a result, Gottschall said, “there would be over diagnosis and over treatment that could lead to harm.”

Raising the age of screening could help lessen that, he said.

But, Chuang pointed out, these recommendations aren’t yet set in stone, as the ACS isn’t a governing body for obstetrician/gynecologists the way that the American College of Obstetrician Gynecologists — which hasn’t yet adopted the guidelines — is.

Indeed, Dr. Richard Wintermute, Bridgeport Hospital’s chief of gynecology, said he plans to continue using the guidelines of ACOG and other boards that cover obstetrician/gynecologists, which still recommend Pap tests starting at 21 and co-testing for HPV starting at 30.

Wintermute said he hasn’t read through all the ACS research on the topic but, for now, “all the research we’ve had up to this point shows that what we’re doing currently works,” he said. “I don’t see us to changing to what the Cancer Society recommends at this time.”

Another area doctor sees the advantage of the new guidelines, but said patients shouldn’t change their medical schedule without speaking to their physician.

“The most important thing is that patients should not independently decide to change when they get (screened),” said Dr. Scott Chudnoff, chair of Stamford Health’s department of obstetrics and gynecology. “There can be very unique circumstances for some people and people shouldn’t try to independently interpret the research.”