Quote:
Originally Posted by MissTerri
It is your opinion that the biopsy is riskier then the vaccine. Approximately six percent of women who receive Pap tests are referred for additional testing or treatment based on abnormal results. It's a pretty small risk if you ask me and one that people should be allowed to take.
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It's a fact that a biopsy is riskier than the vaccine. One common biopsy procedure, LEEP, has a 1 to 2% complication rate.
Far more than 6% of Pap smears result in additional testing. The lifetime risk of a woman having an abnormal Pap is about 1 in 4.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissTerri
We are talking about precancerous changes, not true cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is very slow growing and can and is caught with routine paps.
These are the risk factors involved in true cervical cancer. HPV is one. The vaccine does not prevent all strains. True cervical cancer is very rare in women who receive routine pap smears.
HPV infection
Lack of regular Pap tests
Weakened immune system
Age over 40
Sexual history—many partners or partner with many partners
Smoking cigarettes
Using birth control pills for five or more years
Having many children
Diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure
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Risk factors are not the same as
causes.
Not doing a Pap will not cause cancer. It just means the opportunity to diagnose pre-cancer and treat it was lost.
A weakened immune system does not cause cervical cancer. It does make someone more susceptible to persistent high risk HPV infection.
Age over 40 just reflects the fact that cervical cancer may take years to develop - though not always. It also often reflects greater sexual experience (more partners) and more opportunity to acquire a high risk strain of HPV.
Sexual history does not cause cervical cancer. It reflects the increased risk of acquiring high risk HPV.
Smoking cigarettes does not cause cervical cancer. It does impair immune function and make it more likely a high risk HPV infection will persist.
Using birth control pills will not cause cervical cancer. The hormones in the pill cause changes in the surface tissue of the cervix which make easier for HPV to infect the cervix. Use of the pill also often means the user is sexually active, perhaps has had more partners, and at risk to get infected with HPV.
The number of children just reflects that a woman is sexually active over a significant period, increasing the risk of getting HPV.
Cancer due to DES exposure is very uncommon. The registry maintained by the physician who discovered the association has only about 500 cases since 1971:
Registry .
Of the risk factors in your list, only two actually cause cervical cancer: HPV and DES. HPV accounts for over 99% of cervical cancer.
Prevent HPV infections and you will prevent cervical cancer. The new nine strain version of Gardasil cover 90% of the cancer associated HPV strains.
Pap smears miss some cervical cancers, even in women who have them regularly. Not often, but it happens.
As usual, when you discuss HPV vaccines you completely ignore the cancers caused by HPV that cannot be detected with a Pap smear: Vulvar cancer in women, penile cancer in men, and anal and throat cancer in men and women. The vaccine can prevent those, too.
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