Cervical cancer is a devastating cause of cancer in younger women because over 99% of cases can be prevented by cervical cancer screening (smear tests) and NHS vaccination programme. All females (or people with a cervix) age 25-64 will be invited via letter in the post to attend their appointment, every 3 years* if between the ages 25-49 and every 5 years for over 50s.
*if you live in Scotland or Wales your screening will be every 5 years.
What does the smear test look for?
As most cases of cervical cancer are caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), the cervical screening programme tests for presence of the HPV virus in the first instance. It’s a common misconception that the smear test is a test for cancer, it’s not. They are designed to pick-up high-risk strains of HPV and abnormal cells that have the potential to develop into cancer over time
What do the results mean?
You will receive your results via letter in the post within 4 weeks of having your test.
If HPV is not found, then you will receive a letter telling you so and invited back to your next smear in 3 years.
If HPV is found on your cervical screening test, things can get a little confusing and can be a big anxiety for women– so let’s clear it up!
If HPV is found – they will then test for the presence of any abnormal cells that have the potential to turn into cancer.
- If HPV found but no cell changes found you will be invited back for cervical screening in 1 year, to check the HPV is gone. If you get this result 3 times in a row, you will be invited to a colposcopy for more tests
- If HPV and abnormal cells are found it means you have high-risk HPV and cervical cell change so you will be invited for a colposcopy and further tests
Sometimes your sample will come back as inadequate – not to panic! It just means the sample they got wasn’t adequate enough to test and you need to have a repeat smear test in 3 months’ time.
Dr Frankie’s reminders…
HPV is common – about 8 in 10 people will have it at some point in their lives, but cervical cancer itself is not common – which means that having high-risk HPV does not mean you will definitely develop cervical cancer. In fact, most people who are sexually active will get HPV at some point and there are over 100 types of HPV and most of them cause no problems. Whilst HPV strains 16 and 18 are responsible for over 70% cases of cervical cancer, most people who get these strains will not develop cervical cancer. There’s no treatment for HPV and most people clear the virus naturally within 2 years without the virus causing any abnormal changes to cells.
Vaccination doesn’t exclude you – even if you’ve had both doses of the vaccine, it does not protect you from all strains of HPV so it’s still vitally important you attend your smear tests regularly.
If you have any more questions about the cervical cancer screening programme (smear test) then check out my other blog posts here and here (link to previous 2) and remember you can use the ‘ask Dr Frankie’ feature on Femfresh website and submit your question.
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