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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, February 10, 2012
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Gynecology |
Alternatives to standard gynecological exam08/10/2007 |
Are there other ways to check for all of the health problems that a regular gynecological exam requires other than having to expose one`s genitals to another person (such as ultrasounds, self-tests, etc.), and if so, how reliable are such tests when compared to the standard gynecological exam?
The routine gyn exam screens for breast cancer, cervical cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer using the breast exam and mammogram if indicated by age, the Pap smear, the pelvic exam and a history of your vaginal bleeding respectively. There are no self-tests except for a self-breast exam, but even then it is important to have a clinical breast exam by a healthcare provider every year. The Pap smear is the most effective screening test in most all of medicine. It has caused a great reduction in cervical cancer in countries that use it. There is no self-test that has even come close to it's efficacy. The pelvic exam for ovarian cancer is the most cost- effective test we have for ovarian cancer. A pelvic ultrasound may be more sensitive, but it isn't very specific. There are many false positives. Also, in order to perform a pelvic ultrasound, a vaginal ultrasound probe has to be placed in the vagina therefore making it as "invasive" as a pelvic exam.I understand your thoughts about he invasiveness of the gyn exam, but unfortunately there is no good substitute for effective screening of the above mentioned cancers.
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Thomas A deHoop, MD Formerly Associate Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology Director, Medical Student Education No longer associated |
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